RAI STAR DOCKED 5 YEARS FOR ABORTION BID

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.

They said she came to Algeria believing she was on a business trip, a few days after telling Cheb Mami, 42, that she was pregnant.

She said that she was drugged and taken to a villa in Algiers. There, three people tried to perform an abortion.

On her return to France, she discovered she was still pregnant and later gave birth to a daughter, now aged three.

France issued an international arrest warrant for Cheb Mami after he skipped bail in Paris in May 2007 and fled to Algeria.

He returned to Paris on Monday, saying he wanted to attend the trial, and was arrested at Orly airport.

He had denied involvement in the attempted abortion and said he was being persecuted because he was a successful Arab star.

The star showed no emotion as the verdict was read out.

But during the trial he had expressed remorse and asked for the woman’s forgiveness.

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

Cheb Mami blamed his former manager Michel Lecorre – also known as Michel Levy – saying he was behind the plot.

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

Michel Lecorre was sentenced to four years for plotting and organising the assault.

The court also issued arrest warrants for two of the singer’s aides, Hicham Lazaar and Abdelkader Lallali.

They were convicted in absentia of involvement in the case and were sentenced to three and six years in jail respectively.

SOURCED FROM BBC

ETHIOPIA’S MUSIC STAR GETS REDUCED SENTENCE

Ethiopia’s most famous pop singer, Teddy Afro, has had his sentence for manslaughter reduced on appeal. He was jailed for causing the death of a young homeless man through dangerous driving and failing to stop at the scene of the accident.

The sentence was reduced from six years to two years, which means that – allowing for time already served – he could be free very shortly. The singer has always denied committing the crime.

As news of the decision rippled out across Addis Ababa, groups of young people gathered in the streets, cheering and hugging each other at the news that their favourite singer would soon be free.

Teddy Afro, charged under his real name of Tewodros Kassahun, had originally received a six-year jail sentence, after a car identified as belonging to him hit and killed a young homeless man in the centre of Addis Ababa and then failed to stop to offer assistance.

The performer has always said that he was not driving at the time. The appeal judge, Mr Justice Dagne Melaku, in a careful and detailed decision, upheld the guilty verdict but reduced the sentence from six years to two – on the grounds that the victim had been seen lying drunk and unconscious in the road before the accident – and that the police had failed to move him to safety.

The singer has already spent nearly a year in jail and with an allowance for good behaviour he should now be free in less than a year

SOURCED FROM BBC

OBAMA’S KENYAN CHOIR SIGNS DEAL

An African youth choir has been signed by Universal Music after performing at President Barack Obama’s inauguration celebrations in the US.

The Boys Choir of Kenya signed the deal in the transit lounge at London’s Heathrow Airport as they returned home to Nairobi from Washington DC. They were the only international choir to sing at the inauguration.

The choir, who are aged between 13 and 24, put on an impromptu performance for passengers before flying on to Kenya.

They have toured the US several times, and their performances have raised school fees for their members, as well as helping them take on several orphans. Artistic director Joseph Muyale said: “We heard about the record deal about two days ago. I felt delighted on behalf of the boys.

“We began from humble beginnings and to be recognised by a large recording company is so humbling and quite an honour. We just thank God.”

Universal Classics A&R representative Tom Lewis signed the contract at Heathrow Airport’s Terminal 4. He only saw the choir for the first time at the weekend, after a colleague advised him to watch a clip of them online.

Lewis said: “It has been frantic. I didn’t know how I was going to get to see the choir – they’re not allowed to leave the airport because they’re in transit.

“At one point, I even considered buying a ticket so I could join them. But we’ve been allowed into the departures lounge.”

He added: “I went onto YouTube and I saw their CNN performance and I thought, ‘Wow – I do not want anyone else working with them.’”

The Boys Choir was formed in Nairobi in 1998 but expanded to members from outside the Kenyan capital in 2004. They now have 40 singers.

They were asked to sing at several events surrounding the inauguration of President Obama, whose father came from Kenya – although he never managed to see them perform.

The choir’s repertoire includes a wide-ranging number of pieces from traditional Masaai and Samburu chants to contemporary songs from around Africa. They will now share a label with the likes of Amy Winehouse, U2 and The Rolling Stones.

SOURCED FROM BBC