France jails CERN nuke scientist for role in Al-Qaeda terrorist plot

Paris, May 5 (ANI): A French court has sentenced an Algerian-born nuclear scientist to five years in jail for plotting terrorist attacks with Al-Qaeda's north African affiliate.

Adlene Hicheur, who worked at the prestigious European Organisation for Nuclear Research ( CERN), was arrested in 2009 after police intercepted his emails to an alleged contact in Al-Qaeda.

The emails suggested Hicheur was willing to be part of an 'active terrorist unit', attacking targets in France, The BBC reports.

After his arrest in 2009 police found a large quantity of Islamist literature at his parents' home.

At the start of his trial Hicheur, 35, admitted that he had been going through a psychologically 'turbulent' time in his life when he wrote the emails.

His Defence lawyers have, however, argued that their client had never been part of a plot.

According to the report, Hicheur has already spent two and a half years in jail while awaiting trial. (ANI)