Controversial Moroccan rapper, ElGrande Toto, has been given an eight months suspended jail term for allegedly insulting and threatening a Belgium-based journalist with “insults, defamation and threats”, his lawyer, Abdelfattah Zahrach, told reporters in Friday.
ElGrande Toto, whose real name is Taha Fahssi, was accused of threatening the journalist in an online row after the star made controversial comments about cannabis last year which got him into trouble.
The Casablanca-born 26-year-old rapper who is unarguably the biggest musician in the North African country, reportedly told the journalist in an Instagram post:
“We’ll meet in Belgium and you won’t know what happened to you.”
The suspended jail term, according to the lawyer, comes with a fine of w50 000 dirhams ($4 900) to be paid in damages, Zahrach said.
Zahrach said that though he was “partly satisfied” by the ruling, he however objected to the requirement to pay compensation.
“Toto has not committed any criminal act against the plaintiff,” the lawyer said, adding that they would discuss whether to appeal.
The hiphop artist had sparked controversy in September when he told reporters after a concert:
“I smoke hash – so what?… It doesn’t mean I set a bad example.”
His remarks had triggered anger in Morocco, a conversative country which has banned the recreational use of the drug despite being its biggest producer.
He was accused of “inciting drug use, defamation”, but he later tendered public apology to people he felt were “offended” by the comments.