French-Moroccan rapper Maes has had his prison sentence in Morocco reduced from seven years to one year on appeal, his lawyer said on Friday.
The ruling by the court of appeal in the northern port city of Tangier means the musician, whose real name is Walid Georgey, should soon be released after spending nearly two years in detention, according to local news outlets.
His defence lawyer, Said Harir, announced the judicial decision in a press release following the court hearing on Friday, November 6. Harir said the ruling opened a new perspective for Georgey after months in custody.
Initial conviction and charges
The appeal court ruling dramatically reduces the sentence imposed at his initial trial in November 2025, when a lower court sentenced Georgey to seven years in prison. Moroccan news outlet Medias24 reported that the original conviction was for forming a criminal gang and for attempted kidnapping and confinement.
According to several local media reports, the rapper was accused of hiring a criminal gang and contract hitmen to assassinate a rival artist. Those reports stated that law enforcement authorities uncovered and foiled the alleged murder plot before it could be carried out.
Before his arrest and legal troubles, Maes was one of the most prominent commercial artists in modern French hip-hop. The performer established a massive following across the francophone music world, topping national charts in France and accumulating hundreds of millions of song streams on the digital audio platform Spotify.
Arrest and French warrants
Moroccan authorities arrested Georgey in January 2025 after he travelled to the North African country from the United Arab Emirates. He had departed the Gulf state over fears that he could face extradition to France, where judicial authorities had issued an international arrest warrant against him.
Georgey was already facing an outstanding criminal sentence in his home country. In 2024, a French court sentenced Maes in his absence to ten months in prison and ordered him to pay a fine of 10,000 euros for acts of group violence. A trial in absentia allows judges to try and sentence an accused person who is not present in the courtroom.
With the appellate court in Tangier reducing his term to twelve months, local media outlets report that Georgey has already served more time than his revised sentence demands. Having remained behind bars in Morocco for nearly two years since his detention in January 2025, the rapper is now expected by local journalists to be released from prison.
