PARIS (AFP) Music star Cheb Mami was sentenced on Friday to five years in jail for trying to make a former lover undergo a forced abortion, despite pleading for forgiveness at his trial near Paris. Known as the "Prince of Rai", the 42-year-old Algerian-born singer this week ended two years on the run and returned to France to face trial for the 2005 assault against his ex-girlfriend. Wearing a white shirt, the star, whose real name is Mohamed Khelifati, showed no emotion as the verdict was read out, before being escorted from the courtroom in Bobigny, outside Paris, and remanded in custody. Prosecutors had asked for seven years against Mami, who produced several chart-topping records in France in the 1990s but reached international stardom in 2001 with the hit "Desert Rose" sung with British pop star Sting. The singer's... [read full story]
