14 DAY TRIAL // A 32-year-old man working at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), near the French-Swiss border, was detained under accusations of terrorism last week, when it was proven that he was entertaining links with the renowned terrorist organization al-Qaeda. The man, who is of Algerian descent, was working on an experiment inside the CERN facility, but the organization was quick to point out that his clearance level did not allow the suspect to come in contact with any kind of materials that might have been used for terrorist purposes, the BBC News reports.
He and his brother were detained on Thursday, in the town of Vienne. French authorities say that the two were in direct contact with al-Qaeda affiliates in the Islamic Maghreb, and that they were themselves involved in planning attacks. The scientist did not show up for work for most of this year, under pretense that he was ill, but CERN officials say that he kept in contact via e-mail. French judicial laws prevent authorities from divulging the identity of the suspect, which was officially brought under charges of “criminal association with a terrorist enterprise” this week.
The suspect's brother, aged 25, was released without charges this week, the same authorities reported. They told the AFP news agency that they came across the two during a separate investigation, in which they were tracking down Islamists that were volunteering to go to Afghanistan and fight alongside the Talibans. In spite of the Alliance's best efforts, people continue to enter the country illegally, and pick up arms with the Talibans, in their struggle against what they perceive as an invasion of the Holy Land.
One official said that, although the two had communicated with known al-Qaeda associates in Maghreb, they had “not got to the stage of carrying out material acts of preparation.” According to Brice Hortefeux, the French interior minister, magistrates will “doubtless[ly] establish what the targets were in France or elsewhere, and perhaps indicate that we have avoided the worst.” Analysts say that al-Qaeda became an established presence in the Islamic Maghreb in 2007, when the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC) aligned itself with bin Laden's group.