"Cheb Mami, an Algerian singer, has been sentenced by a French court to five years in prison for abducting his former girlfriend and attempting to force her to have an abortion.The 42-year-old singer, whose real name is Mohamed Khelifati, returned to France this week to face trial for the 2005 assault against his former lover after spending two years on the run in Algeria.
The star, who has had several chart-topping hits in France and sang on Sting's 2001 hit Desert Rose, is credited with bringing his homeland's Rai folk music to an international audience.
Prosecutors said Mami and his accomplices drugged and abducted his former girlfriend, a French photographer whose name was withheld, a few days after she told him she was pregnant." telegraph.co.uk 03/07/09
I thought the case had been dismissed due to lack of evidence. Shame on him-what a waste of a great talent!I like his songs very much.
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