He is famous for bringing the Algerian popular Rai music to music fans throughout the world.
Cheb Mami could get 10 years imprisonment if he is found guilty of complicity in violence although the singer is denying the charges. The singer's former manager, Maurice Levy, is being investigated too as well as two former aides.
The prosecution claim that the accused was one of a group of people who kidnapped and assaulted the woman in the Algerian capital, Algiers, back in 2005.
She was forced to have an abortion, it is claimed, but on going back to France she found out that she was still pregnant and she gave birth to a baby girl.
An international arrest warrant was issued for Cheb Mami after he had jumped bail in Paris in May 2007 and had gone back to Algeria.
Cheb Mami denies any wrongdoing and claims he is being persecuted because he is such a success.
