Cheb Mami receives five years in forced-abortion case

2009-07-05

Four years of legal manoeuvring on two continents ended Thursday for Cheb Mami. Fans now wonder whether the rai legend's career will survive five years in a French prison.

By Lyes Aflou for Magharebia in Algiers – 05/07/09

[Benoit Peyrucq/AFP/Getty Images] A court sketch shows Algerian singer Cheb Mami at his trial in Bobigny, France.

Rai music superstar Cheb Mami was sentenced to five years in prison on Thursday (July 2nd) by a French court, bringing an end to a long legal battle over a 2005 forced-abortion attempt on his ex-girlfriend.

Fans of the French-Algerian singer fear the ruling will also spell an end to his career in music.

The Bobigny court found Cheb Mami – whose real name is Mohamed Khelifati – guilty on a variety of charges, including accessory to abduction, false imprisonment, violence, administration of harmful substances, threats, and intimidation directed at his former lover, magazine photographer Isabelle Simon.

Also sentenced in connection with the crime were manager Michel Levy (four years), Kader Lallali (six years) and Hicham Lazhar (three years). Lallali and Lazhar were sentenced in absentia. Isabelle Simon was awarded 95,000 euros in damages.

Observers familiar with the history of the case were surprised to hear Mami's answers to the president of the court, which suggested he was present during the abortion attempt at his villa in El Biar, Algiers. He maintained for four years that he was away in Oran at the time of the crimes.

"I saw the foetus… I don't know, I don't know… I made a mistake," he said. "It's against my principles, my religion. I can't explain it. I made a mistake, a serious one, it's a nightmare. I wasn't at the villa, but I knew what was happening".

He said the abortion was suggested by ex-manager Michel Levy.

"It was Michel's idea," he told the Bobigny court. "I agreed to it in my panic. If he hadn't raised the possibility, I would never have thought of it. But I didn't do anything to stop him," he concluded.

It also emerged during the trial that Mami offered- through Michel Levy - to pay Isabelle Simon to dissuade her from filing a complaint. The singer then suggested she have an abortion in the United Kingdom – for which he was prepared to spend 100,000 euros – in order to avoid becoming the father of "an illegitimate child".

Levy denied any involvement in the affair.

Kader Lallali, a confidant of Mami, and Hicham Lazhar, a colleague of Levy – were not present for the trial. Lallali fled to Algeria and Lazhar failed to appear in court.

Reactions to the events vary.

Algerian daily Quotidien d’Oran predicted that the singer would only serve part of his time in prison. "If his sentence is remitted, Cheb Mami could be free in just over two years' time. He broke down when admitting his 'serious mistake' but claimed to have been 'trapped' – because he did not want the child that his partner was carrying," the newspaper wrote.

El Watan was more critical: "What future awaits the rai star who has sold some 20 million records worldwide? One thing is for certain: his career as a musician has gone up in smoke. In Algeria his image as a kind man and the prince of rai is somewhat tarnished to say the least."

Mami's life, the paper claims, has undergone a "spectacular turnaround".

"It was in Bobigny, in Seine-Saint-Denis, that the boy from Saida embarked on his international career in 1986. Twenty-three years on, it was at a court in Bobigny, just a stone's throw from the hall where he used to sing, that he was put on trial and sentenced," the article concludes.

Mami will not lodge an appeal, according to his lawyer, Claire Doubliez, who said that he was "relieved" at the conviction "because it's all over, but is also frightened by the thought of having to spend five years in jail".