Seven months later, those fears unfortunately became reality, as this month he became the latest in a growing string of Moroccan artists to face arrest or prosecution over the past year. Before him came rapper Pause Flow (Jawad Asradi), who was arrested in November 2025 over lyrics alleged to have insulted public officials, as well as Hamza Raid and Souhaib Qabli, both prosecuted and convicted over songs linked to the GenZ212 protest movement (the youth-led movement calling for reforms to the Kingdom’s healthcare and education systems in September 2025).Few artists are better placed to speak on the issue than Moroccan rapper Khtek, one of the country’s most outspoken voices and no stranger to using music as a vehicle for political and social commentary. To her, El Youbi’s arrest is less an isolated incident than the continuation of a pattern that has long shaped, and to an extent even defined, the boundaries of Morocco’s rap scene, determining not only what artists feel able to say, but how freely they can say it.
Voir cette publication sur Instagram Une publication partagée par Khtek 🐷 🇲🇦 (@khtek.17)
Une publication partagée par Khtek 🐷 🇲🇦 (@khtek.17)
“Deep down, many of us know that if you openly criticize the system through your art, journalism or activism, there is a risk of paying a heavy price. This is not something new, it is a pattern we have witnessed for years,” she added before reflecting on the long-term implications such cases can have on Morocco’s local soundscape.To her, the greatest danger lies in the climate of self-censorship that these cases create. She believes arrests like El Youbi’s inevitably make artists second-guess their lyrics, delay releases, or think twice before expressing themselves online, gradually pushing them away from subjects they perceive as too risky out of fear of ending up behind bars. The result, she argues, is “the gradual shrinking of the public space for critical thought, creativity, and honest conversations about the country’s most pressing issues.”
“The irony is that this goes against the very essence of rap,” she reflected. “Hip-hop was born as a form of protest; a way to question power, expose injustice, and give a voice to communities whose realities are often ignored. When artists become afraid to speak, an essential part of the culture is lost,” pointing to the history of Moroccan rappers who have faced legal trouble or state pressure over their work including Al7a9ed, Mr Crazy, Lgnawi, and many more. A more recent example, albeit outside the music industry, occurred in February 2026, when film distributor Zineb Kharroubi was arrested at Marrakech Airport and later sentenced in absentia to a six-month suspended prison sentence over her alleged involvement in the September 2025 protests.
For every arrest though, there has also been a growing wave of solidarity. During the GenZ212 protests, the hashtag #FREEKOULCHI (“Free Everyone”) emerged as a way of drawing attention to those being detained, from everyday netizens to high-profile figures. Since then, it has grown into something bigger: a banner under which artists, activists, journalists and ordinary citizens rally in support of those they believe have been targeted for simply speaking up.The said petition has already gathered more than 6000 signatures from artists, writers, normal citizens, and cultural figures, among them pioneering Moroccan rapper Don Bigg, fellow Moroccan sonic artists Draganov, ElGrandeToto, Tchubi, Mao, and Khtek, local photographer Marouane Beslem, Franco-Tunisian historian and radio producer Hajer Ben Boubaker, and French actress Lorraine de Sagazan amongst hundreds of others.
And it’s that outpouring of support that Khtek chooses to hold on to. Rather than dwelling on those who have remained silent, she says she finds hope in the sheer number of artists who have publicly rallied behind El Youbi. “Artists with very different political views came together to defend one fundamental principle: freedom of expression,” she said. “Regardless of our differences, solidarity matters when basic freedoms are at stake.”
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