France jails Cern physicist Adlene Hicheur for terror plot
A French court has sentenced a scientist at the prestigious Cern laboratory to five years in prison for plotting terrorist attacks.
A French court has sentenced a scientist at the prestigious Cern laboratory to five years in prison for plotting terrorist attacks.
Adlene Hicheur was arrested in 2009 after police intercepted his emails to an alleged contact in al-Qaeda.
The emails suggested Algerian-born Hicheur was willing to be part of an “active terrorist unit”, attacking targets in France.
Defence lawyers argued that their client had never been part of a plot.
Hicheur, who is a particle physicist, worked as a researcher studying the origins of the universe at Cern.
His father embraced him in the Paris courtroom before he was taken away to prison.