Physicist placed under investigation for terrorism

PARIS - A 32-year-old French-Algerian physicist working at the CERN nuclear research centre has been placed under investigation on charges of “associating with known criminals in a terrorist undertaking”, French media reported Tuesday.

The suspect and his younger brother were arrested Thursday in the south-eastern city of Vienne after US intelligence intercepted e-mails between the man and people tied to the North African terrorist group Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb. His brother was released at the weekend.

The weekly Le Journal du Dimanche reported Sunday that the suspect has admitted sending the messages.

In the e-mails he reportedly described plans for terrorist attacks on French soil. However, the plans were apparently not connected with his work at CERN.

In addition, shortly after his arrest, CERN issued a statement saying that in his job the suspect was never in contact with material that could be used in an attack.