French extremist related to Charlie Hebdo attackers goes on trial

A French jihadist who was close to the brothers behind the 2015 massacre at the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo went on trial in Paris on Monday.

Peter Cherif, also known as Abou Hamza, was arrested in Djibouti in 2018 after years of allegedly fighting in the ranks of al-Qaeda in the Middle East.

He is being tried for terrorism-related offenses allegedly committed between 2011 and 2018 and the 2011 kidnapping of three French aid workers in Yemen.

In 2015, Cherif was placed on a U.S. blacklist as a member of the Yemen-based militant group al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP).

Cherif, 42, was linked to a Paris jihadist cell and was named in the inquiry into the fatal January 2015 attack on Charlie Hebdo due to his regular contact with the perpetrators, brothers Saïd and Chérif Kouachi.

The massacre claimed the lives of 12 people and sent shock waves across France.

Cherif has not been formally charged over the attack, but his potential involvement is expected to be at the center of the trial.

Investigating judges believe that he “facilitated the integration into AQAP of one of the Kouachi brothers, most probably Chérif,” and that he had knowledge of the plan to carry out an attack in France.

According to several witnesses, including Cherif’s late girlfriend, AQAP advised foreign fighters in Yemen to return to their countries of origin to stage attacks.

Peter Cherif is also believed to have maintained contact with Chérif Kouachi upon his return to France.

He has denied having knowledge of the planned attack.

In 2020, he was a witness during the trial over the 2015 attacks and claimed to have had “nothing to do” with the massacre.

According to Sefen Guez Guez, one of his lawyers, Cherif “knows that the Charlie Hebdo trial weighs heavily in the balance, but he will come forward with a sincere statement.”

Cherif faces life in prison if convicted.

AFP