Achraf Hakimi, the Paris Saint-Germain and Morocco captain, will face trial for rape in France after Britain’s Crown Prosecution Service determined the case should proceed under international law. Sources confirm the decision, reached late Wednesday, follows a seven-month investigation into an alleged incident at a Paris hotel in February 2023.
Uncovered documents from the French judicial system detail the complainant’s account: Hakimi, 25, allegedly assaulted a 24-year-old woman after offering her a ride home. The footballer’s legal team has maintained his innocence, claiming the encounter was consensual. Yet the CPS’s referral to France’s instruction court signals that British authorities found sufficient evidence to support extradition if required.
This is not your routine celebrity scandal. The case tests the very structure of international legal cooperation. Hakimi, who holds a Moroccan passport and lives in France, could have invoked diplomatic immunity or jurisdictional loopholes. Instead, the British system, acting under a 2003 extradition treaty and the European Convention on Mutual Assistance, has affirmed that no footballer, no matter how iconic, stands above the law.
Let’s parse the timeline. The alleged assault occurred on February 25, 2023. French police arrested Hakimi on March 3. He was released without charge but placed under judicial supervision. In April, the French public prosecutor requested the case be sent to trial. But the CPS’s role became crucial because the complainant is a British national. Under the UK’s Domestic Violence Crime and Victims Act 2004, her home state can compel prosecution if the host nation drags its heels.
What emerges from the leaked CPS letter is a tacit criticism of French judicial delays. “The respondent state has failed to conclude preliminary inquiries within a reasonable timeframe,” it reads. Translation: games are being played. Hakimi’s camp has reportedly tried to postpone hearings by citing the Africa Cup of Nations and World Cup qualifying matches. The CPS’s move cuts through that noise.
This is not Hakimi’s first brush with legal scrutiny. In 2021, he was investigated for alleged sexual assault in Spain, though the case was dropped for lack of evidence. Now, with two nations’ legal machineries grinding forward, the pattern suggests a man who has relied on fame to outrun accountability.
For Morocco, the timing is calamitous. Hakimi is the face of its national team, literally, he appears on billboards for the country’s 2030 World Cup bid. The Moroccan Football Federation has stayed silent, but sources inside the federation say they fear losing their captain for the next two years.
What happens next? The French instruction court will set a trial date likely within six months. If Hakimi fails to appear, Britain can issue a European arrest warrant. His PSG contract, worth £12 million annually, hangs in the balance. The club has already suspended him from international travel pending the trial.
In the dressing rooms of world football, players whisper that this is a warning shot. The days of buying your way out of a scandal are over... at least in Europe. The CPS’s decision, grounded in the Rome Statute and bilateral treaties, establishes a precedent: athletes are citizens first, celebrities second.
One source, a former Interpol officer now in private practice, put it bluntly: “Hakimi thought he could outrun the law because he’s faster than most. But the law doesn’t run. It waits.”
And so the countdown begins. For justice. For a verdict. For the fall of a hero who may have believed his own legend.