French court dismisses polygamy case

A French court dismissed fraud charges on Friday against a French butcher at the center of a "polygamy" row in 2010 when his wife was pulled over for wearing her "niqab" full-face veil. Lies Hebbadj, an Algerian-born 35-year-old, found himself accused by the then interior minister Brice Hortefeux of living a polygamous lifestyle with several wives who had borne him 12 children. In the charges, Hebbadj was accused of having fraudulently obtained welfare benefits and having hidden a married life with two children. But his lawyer Cecile de Oliveira said Friday: "No serious proof against Lies Hebbadj emerged in the investigation. "The mountain gave way to a mole hill." Prosecutors, who estimated the fraud cost French coffers 90,000 euros ($118,000), have appealed the decision. Hebbadj and two other women "live in de-facto polygamy", the prosecutor in this city in Western France said. French authorities in 2010 investigated whether Hebbadj should lose his French citizenship, which he acquired after marrying a French woman in 1999, although he has lived in France since the age of two. The controversy over Hebbadj and his wife came just as the government was preparing legislation to ban the wearing of the full-face veil. President Nicolas Sarkozy had said the full veil, known as the burqa or the niqab, is not welcome in France, calling it an affront to French values that denigrates women. Police stopped Hebbadj's 31-year-old wife in Nantes in April 2010 and fined her 22 euros on the grounds that her niqab restricted her view so she could not drive safely.