Moroccan Boxer Suffers Third Defeat in Libel Case against King’s Private Secretary

For the third time in a year, French justice has condemned the self-proclaimed kick boxing champion Zakaria Moumni for defamation against the Moroccan king’s private secretary, Mounir El Majidi.

Last Wednesday (July 5), the 17th Civil Chamber of the Paris High Court sentenced Zakaria Moumni for defamation in the lawsuit brought against him by Mounir El Majidi, the private secretary of King Mohammed VI, reported the news portal le360.

This is the third time that Zakaria Moumni is convicted in the lawsuit filed by Mounir El Majidi. The first ruling was issued on October 5, 2016 while the second, which concerned the former boxer and his wife Taline, was released on April 19, 2017.

In the Wednesday ruling, the court convicted Zakaria Moumni for public defamation and sentenced him to a €1,500 fine in damages for defamation, the portal said.

The third case against the ex-boxer was filed after he claimed, at a conference on human rights in the European Parliament, that Mounir El Majidi had threatened him with death. He posted a video of the conference on YouTube and Facebook.

It all started when Zakaria Moumni had filed a complaint in France against Abdellatif Hammouchi, head of Morocco’s General Directorate of National Security (DGST) and Director of the National Intelligence Agency, for alleged torture. He had claimed that the private secretary of King Mohammed VI was behind his abuse.

Mounir El Majidi lodged a complaint for libel in the same court and won the case in October 2016 as he won the two other lawsuits he lodged against Moumni on similar defamation charges.