Cheb Mami says he is persecuted because he is a successful Arab A French court has jailed the Algerian singer Cheb Mami for five years for abducting a former partner and forcing her to undergo an attempted abortion. Cheb Mami, whose real name is Mohammed Khalifati, was found guilty at a trial in Bobigny, a Parisian suburb. He had denied the charges, telling the court that he had been "manipulated" by his entourage. The singer is credited with bringing Algeria's popular Rai folk music to an international audience. The maximum sentence was 10 years and the prosecution had asked for seven. Prosecutors had said that Cheb Mami was one of a group who abducted and beat the woman, a French photographer, in the Algerian capital, Algiers, in 2005. Still pregnant They said she came to Algeria believing she was on a business trip, a few... [read full story]
