French jihadist admits role in kidnapping of aid workers

(AFP) A French jihadist linked to the perpetrators of the 2015 massacre at satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo made a surprise admission Tuesday that he was involved in the 2011 kidnapping of three French aid workers in Yemen.

Peter Cherif, 42, also known as Abou Hamza, is being tried in Paris for terrorism-related offences committed between 2011 and 2018, when he allegedly belonged to Yemen-based militant group Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP).

Arrested in Djibouti in 2018, he had previously denied involvement in the kidnapping.

But on Tuesday he told the court that “I accept the facts, I was the translator” between his fellow French and their captors.

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