Cheb Mami
© AFP/File Suhaila SahmaraniALGIERS (AFP) - The request was sent via the national police directorate to the justice minister, which relayed it to prosecutors in Cheb Mami's hometown of Saida, in the southwest of the country, the Arabic-language An-Nahar newspaper said.
The report could not be confirmed with Algerian officials, but if correct, it would mark a new twist in an ongoing legal saga surrounding the internationally famous "prince of rai".
France issued an international warrant for his arrest in May last year after the singer -- real name Mohammed Khalifati -- skipped bail and failed to heed an order to appear in court.
He had been put under formal investigation in France on suspicion of "voluntary violence", sequestration and making threats against the ex-companion, a photojournalist specialising in rai.
It is alleged that, in the summer of 2005, the woman was sequestered in a house in Algiers belonging to a friend of the singer where two doctors were said to have attempted to carry out an abortion on her.
Returning to France, the woman -- whose identity has been withheld -- learned that her foetus was still alive. She went on to have the child, who today would be 16 months old.
The singer -- who has worked with the likes of Police frontman Sting and hit-spinning producer Nile Rodgers -- denies the charge, saying he is the target of a European media witch hunt due to his success as an "Arab star".
Speaking to Algerian and French news outlets in June, Cheb Mami said he preferred to be tried in Algeria, having lost what he called "confidence in French justice."
"Today I am in my country," he told the Algerian newspaper Quotidien d'Oran. "I trust the judicial system in my country and I am fully at its disposition if it decides to judge me."
©AFP