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<\/a><\/p>\nPublished On 14 Jul 202614 Jul 2026<\/p>\n
Politically outspoken Moroccan artist, rapper, and filmmaker Mehdi El Youbi has been arrested in Casablanca, days after being barred from returning to France, where he has been based since 2017.<\/p>\n
El Youbi, better known by his stage name Mehdi Black Wind, was detained on Monday night after being questioned by Morocco\u2019s National Brigade of Judicial Police in Casablanca, according to a statement from a group of his friends and supporters.<\/p>\n
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\u201cAfter a day of questioning, his family were informed at around 9pm that he had been taken into police custody and was due to appear before the public prosecutor on Wednesday\u201d, the statement said. \u201cAccording to the latest information, his arrest is believed to be linked to his artistic views and posts on social media.\u201d<\/p>\n
El Youbi, born in 1992, is widely known in Morocco and across North Africa for his rap songs heavily influenced by US hip-hop. He rose to prominence in the early 2010s, at the same time as the Arab Spring<\/a>, with songs that caught the attention of the authorities for their politically engaged lyrics.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen I return home, I\u2019m afraid of being arrested or banned from the country,\u201d El Youbi told<\/a> French music magazine Mosaique Magazine in December 2025. \u201cMany people try to depoliticise art or sport, but I believe that every committed artist, every activist, or anyone who takes risks lives between boldness and fear.\u201d<\/p>\n El Youbi is \u201cthe best rapper in North Africa and it\u2019s not close\u201d, Algerian journalist Maher Mezahi said on X.<\/p>\n Omar Radi, a Moroccan investigative journalist and human rights activist who was previously jailed in Morocco for criticising a judge<\/a>, told Al Jazeera that El Youbi is \u201cthe most outspoken and politically direct Moroccan rapper\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cThere is a deliberate attempt to stamp out any possibility of criticism of the government or police methods, whether within civil society and the press, or in artistic circles or amongst football supporters,\u201d Radi said.<\/p>\n El Youbi\u2019s detention comes a day after the arrest of Moroccan journalist Ali Lmrabet, which was condemned<\/a> by the Committee to Protect Journalists, and two weeks after Zineb Kharroubi, a leading figure in the Gen Z 212 activist movement, was given a six-month suspended prison sentence<\/a> after being found guilty of \u201cincitement to commit crimes or offences by electronic means\u201d.<\/p>\n A supporter of El Youbi said that these developments reflect \u201cintensified repression linked to the Gen Z movement\u201d, referring to the youth-led protest movement<\/a> that emerged last year<\/a> in Morocco demanding better health services and education reforms.<\/p>\n El Youbi is due to appear before the public prosecutor on Wednesday morning. His supporters said they were concerned that he may have to appear without a lawyer, as lawyers in Morocco are currently on strike.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Activists say Moroccan authorities are intensifying repression of critical voices and the Gen Z protest movement. Published On…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":800722,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[64,63,134,12241,24604,136,44,17736],"class_list":["post-800721","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-entertainment","tag-middle-east","tag-morocco","tag-music","tag-news","tag-protests"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/800721","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=800721"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/800721\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/800722"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=800721"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=800721"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=800721"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Mehdi](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/photomehdi3-1784059195.jpeg\")
Mehdi El Youbi was arrested in Morocco, days after being barred from returning to Marseille, France, where he\u2019s been based since 2017. [Courtesy of supporters of Mehdi El Youbi]<\/p>\n