Peter Cherif trial: Jihadist faces justice for his role in Charlie Hebdo attacks
The trial of Peter Cherif, a figure of French jihadism and close to Chérif Kouachi, one of the attackers of the Charlie Hebdo attack, opened this Monday before the special assize court of Paris. Now aged 42, Cherif, alias Abou Hamza, is being tried for terrorist criminal association between 2011 and 2018, a period marked by his presence in Yemen within Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP). He faces life imprisonment.
An international jihadist journey
Born and raised in the 19th arrondissement of Paris, alongside the Kouachi brothers, Peter Cherif is a figure in the Buttes-Chaumont network, a terrorist cell active in the early 2000s. Converted to Islam in 2003, Cherif quickly left for the Middle East, joining Al-Qaeda in Iraq in 2004. Captured by American forces, he escaped in 2007 before finding refuge in Syria, then being extradited to France in 2008.
In 2011, while he was due to be tried in Paris for his jihadist activities, he fled to Yemen, via Tunisia and Oman, where he joined the ranks of AQAP. It was during this period that he allegedly facilitated the integration of Chérif Kouachi into AQAP and learned of the plans for an attack targeting France, although he denies any direct involvement in the attack on Charlie Hebdo.
Accused of complicity in the Charlie Hebdo attack
Peter Cherif's role in the Charlie Hebdo attack will be at the heart of the trial. The investigation believes that he helped Chérif Kouachi integrate into AQAP during a stay in Yemen in 2011. According to several testimonies, including that of his late partner, AQAP encouraged foreign fighters to return to their country to commit attacks, an instruction that was also given to Peter Cherif.
While Peter Cherif has always denied being involved in the preparation of the attack, the Assize Court will attempt to clarify his role in welcoming and indoctrinating Kouachi. The question of whether Cherif helped or influenced Kouachi in the preparation of the attack will remain central during the hearing, where victims of Charlie Hebdo, including cartoonists Riss and Coco, will testify.
A jihadist career under surveillance
In addition to his alleged complicity in the Charlie Hebdo attack, Cherif will have to answer to the accusations of kidnapping and sequestration of three French aid workers in 2011 in Yemen, held prisoner for more than five months. The jihadist is also accused of having participated in the military activities of AQAP, in particular by contributing to the manufacture of explosive devices and taking part in combats. He is also said to have been in contact with Anwar al-Awlaqi, a radical American preacher, killed by a drone in 2011.
Arrested in Djibouti in 2018 after living under a false identity, Cherif was extradited to France. He will now have to answer to the French courts for his involvement in one of the most significant terrorist attacks in the country's recent history.
The trial, scheduled to last until October 4, should provide new answers about the Charlie Hebdo attack and the jihadist activities of Peter Cherif.
