Second brother embarrasses French justice minister

LYON (Reuters) - A younger brother of France's justice minister is to appear in court on drugs charges in the latest embarrassment for Rachida Dati, who recently pushed through a law imposing tougher sentences for repeat offenders.

Omar Dati, one of Dati's 11 siblings, will appear in court on November 19 and has been charged, along with three others, with "acquiring, being in possession of, transporting and selling drugs" in 2004 and 2005, the prosecutor's office said.

On Tuesday an appeals court sentenced another of Dati's brothers, Jamal Dati, to one year in prison for consuming and selling heroin in 2005.

Jamal Dati had been given a three-year jail sentence for drug trafficking six years ago, after being fined for drug use in 1995.

The daughter of a Moroccan bricklayer and an illiterate Algerian housewife, Rachida Dati is a qualified judge and became a symbol of President Nicolas Sarkozy's ethnically diverse cabinet on her appointment in May.

Despite strong support from Sarkozy and his wife Cecilia, the 41-year-old Dati had a difficult start, suffering bad press over her crime bill, the departure of senior aides, as well as the drugs charges against her brother Jamal.

She told French radio last month: "All families go through difficult times, difficult events, difficult phases." She declined further comment as inappropriate.