Lebanese Singer Elissa Criticized Over Duet With Sex Offender Saad Lamjarred

By Sally Shakkour

Lebanon's famous singer Elissa released her newest song, Min Awal Dekika, yesterday along with Moroccan singer Saad Lamjarred. 

Elissa, who used to defend women's rights and labeled herself as a women's rights advocate,  caused public anger and was criticized by activists for making a duet with Saad Lamjarred who was accused of sexual harassment multiple times.

Translation: "Why would a person work with another who is accused of raping women and was jailed more than one time as well as being banned from entering certain countries upon his sexual assaults."

Various comments were released less than 12 hours ahead of the release of the duets' song Min Awal Dekika. A person Tweeted: "acting like a feminist then working with a r@pist for money;" while another commented on Elissa's new Twitter profile picture with Saad saying: "I see two rapists."

The Lebanese singer was well known for her ultimate support for women's rights against the patriarchal society and violence as she previously called women to speak up and ask for their rights.

Translation: "#Elissa_supports_rapists; in all of her interviews, she pretends to support women. However, she is fine to make a duet with a person who is accused of raping multiple women."

A hashtag #اليسا_تدعم_المغتصبين (#Elissa_supports_rapists) was widely released on social media as people were disappointed by the Lebanese singer who claims to always stand with women. 

The Moroccan singer Saad Lamjarred was previously jailed more than once and released on bail over accusations of sexual assaults against four women with the latest, Saad attended a testimony at the Court of Appeal in Paris in the case of raping Laura Prioul, a French national.

Saad Lamjarred was arrested by the police in France back in 2016 where he spent six months in prison and was freed on bail in 2017 under electronic surveillance, Morocco World News reported.

Translation: "Women don't represent half of the society, women are the whole society. without them, there will be no society, hope, or continuity. On International Women's Day, I call all women to defend their rights and never be silent."

Not only on International Women's Day, but Elissa had also allocated a full episode during her broadcast which was airing on Anghami app to talk about sexual harassment, Female genital mutilation (FGM), and women's rights in general. 

During the episode, Elissa pointed out the importance of the presence of women in the community and the role they play in preserving the balance in life; she also hailed the fact that more females are now reaching high levels of education and the reduction of underage marriage in the recent years, according to Al-Arab news.

Despite the fuzz that Elissa and Saad created on social media their song, which was recently released, has made an echo reaching over 1.8 million views in 15 hours.