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Charlie Hebdo: Will Peter Cherif, one of the last witnesses to the preparation of the attack, reveal his secrets?
While he faces a life sentence for his alleged involvement in the attack that decimated the editorial staff of “Charlie Hebdo” in 2015, French jihadist Peter Cherif is striving to deny his involvement. For experts, his background contradicts this.
(France 2)
While he faces a life sentence for his alleged involvement in the attack that decimated the editorial staff of “Charlie Hebdo” in 2015, French jihadist Peter Cherif is striving to deny his involvement. For experts, his background contradicts this.
Frenchman Peter Cherif is a 42-year-old veteran of jihad. He is one of the last living witnesses to the preparation of the attack on Charlie Hebdo. In January 2015, the editorial staff of the satirical newspaper was decimated in an attack that left 12 dead and 11 injured. The attack was decided far from Paris, in Yemen, in the Arabian Peninsula, by Al-Qaeda. Peter Cherif belongs to the terrorist group.
Having arrived in Yemen in the spring of 2011, Peter Cherif is suspected of having acted as an interpreter for Al-Qaeda during the kidnapping of three French aid workers. Facts he denies. “He is recognized by Al-Qaeda”attests Marc Trévidic, former anti-terrorist judge. During this period, the group sought to carry out operations in the West. It was Peter Cherif who introduced one of the Kouachi brothers, the future assassin of Charlie Hebdo, to Al-Qaeda. However, he denied having been informed of the planned attack. Arrested in 2018, he now faces life imprisonment.