Algerian Singer Jailed for Forced Abortion Attempt

Algerian singer Cheb Mami has been jailed for five years after drugging and abducting his pregnant French lover, taking her to Algeria and trying to force her to have an abortion.

From The Telegraph:

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.

She told the court that she was taken to a villa in Algiers, where three people tried to perform an abortion.

However, upon returning to France, she discovered she was still pregnant and later gave birth to a girl, who is now three.

"They insulted me.. They threw me on the mattress and tore off my pants....I was given three shots with needles, one woman pressed against my stomach and the other put her hand in my vagina and started scraping," she testified in court.

During his testimony, Mami expressed remorse and pleaded for the woman's forgiveness.

He broke down in tears and admitted to making a "serious mistake" but said he did not love the woman and felt "trapped" when she told him she was pregnant.

"I was ashamed to have an illegitimate child. A child should be born from a union. I didn't want this child," he told the court.

Mami blamed his former manager Michel Lecorre - who is known as Michel Levy - saying he was behind the plot to force the woman to have an abortion.

"I was in a panic and I agreed," he said. "I did nothing to stop him."

Mami's former manager was sentenced to four years for plotting and organising the assault.