فاس نيوز ميديا جريدة الكترونية جهوية تعنى بشؤون و أخبار جهة فاس مكناس – متجددة على مدار الساعة
A Montreal businessman who suggested on his YouTube channel that a former Crown Prosecutor in Morocco be ‘executed, resurrected, convicted again and put to death’ will have to respond to a $2 million lawsuit in Quebec Superior Court.
The businessman being sued, Hicham Jerando, is also facing criminal charges of threatening to cause death for the same statements he made about Noujaim Bensami, who is now an adviser at the Moroccan Ministry of Justice.
Jerando pleaded not guilty to these criminal charges when he appeared before the Montreal Municipal Court on 8 March.
The Canadian-Moroccan businessman describes himself as an anti-corruption activist on TikTok, Facebook and YouTube, where he has more than 400,000 subscribers.
In January, he was found guilty of contempt of court for refusing to comply with a Quebec Superior Court order to delete Arabic-language videos in which he described another Moroccan judicial officer without evidence as a ‘corrupt lawyer’ linked to a ‘criminal network of corruption linked to the judicial system and money laundering’.
In this new case, the judicial officer whom Jerando instigated, Najim Bensami, is a well-known figure in Morocco, having previously investigated trials associated with the terrorist attacks in Casablanca in May 2003. These suicide attacks, carried out by an al-Qaeda-linked terrorist group against the Belgian consulate and several Jewish-owned businesses, killed 33 people.
On his YouTube channel, Jerando accused Mr Bensami of ‘falsifying the confessions’ of the defendants who were sentenced to 20 or 30 years in prison at the end of these trials.
Mr Bensami describes these statements as ‘highly defamatory, false and irresponsible’ and is seeking US$1.5 million for ‘damage to his honour, dignity and reputation’ and US$500,000 in punitive damages.
Mr Bensami confirmed that he received a threatening letter at his home in Morocco telling him that he ‘deserved to be buried alive’ and that his ‘head would be cut off along with his [entire] family’ shortly after the Girandoux videos were broadcast.
For the purposes of the lawsuit, Mr Bensami declared that he was based at the Montreal law firm Fasken’s office ‘for security reasons’.
Hicham Jerando, the owner of a clothing store on Chabanel Street, was until recently a director of the commercial development company Société de Développement District Central. He was a member of the board of directors alongside the mayor of the Ahuntsic-Cartierville neighbourhood, Émilie Thuillier.
The organisation said it took the various accusations against the businessman seriously by ‘submitting the case to the governance committee to study and make recommendations’. Elena Di Stefano, a spokesperson for the organisation, said: ‘There was a discussion with Mr Jerando during which he stated that he did not wish to harm the organisation and therefore would not seek a new mandate.’ His role as director ended on 27 March.
Jerando declined requests from the Canadian press to comment on the allegations and accusations against him.
His LinkedIn page lists him as vice president and director of business development at GOPS.7 Aeronautics, a company that sells and leases business jets and provides support in the aviation industry.
On its Facebook page, the company only posted promotional messages about a food processor. ‘It appears that, although the defendant presents itself as being in the aviation business […], the company’s activities appear to be limited to food processors,’ Mr Bensami’s lawsuit states.
From the website: Fez News
