Wrongly Convicted Man to be Exonerated After Accuser Recants 1998 Rape Allegation

The facts date back to December 1998. Julie, a 15-year-old high school student, the daughter of an entrepreneur, had accused "young Arabs" of assault. Among them, Farid, 17, the son of a Moroccan worker and a school employee, a drug-addicted brother in prison and himself out of school, known to the justice system, will be accused of rape. The teenager had had problems with Julie’s boyfriend, Julien. Farid flatly rejected the rape allegations. "It’s not true! It’s impossible. I’ve never jumped a girl," he had proclaimed during his hearing by the gendarmes. In 2003, the juvenile assize court convicted the Moroccan teenager of "sexual assault" and "rape".

Gnawed by remorse, Julie, after "a long work on" herself "in psychotherapy", acknowledged in 2017 that she had lied. She had sent correspondence to the Douai Public Prosecutor to that effect. "During a trial that took place at the Douai Assize Court in 2003, I confess to having lied. Mr. Farid E. never committed any acts of sexual assault or rape on my person," she affirms. A lie she justifies by a desire to protect her family. "The investigation took place when I was 15 years old, following a complaint from my parents. They had become aware of these accusations through my older brother Antoine. I found myself in a process that I failed to stop. The truth is as follows: I was the victim of repeated incest from this older brother, between the ages of 8 and 12. It took me many years to get out of this denial."

Five years later, in July 2022, Farid, a union delegate, received a call from the police station: "come, we have the proof of your innocence," reports Le Monde. Immense joy for this father who went to announce the good news to his mother, in palliative care at the hospital. This news paves the way for his possible rehabilitation. The Court of Review will consider the request made in this regard on Thursday, December 8.