(AFP) A French jihadist close to the brothers behind the 2015 massacre at satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo was on Thursday sentenced to life imprisonment.
Peter Cherif, 42, had been on trial in Paris since mid-September for “belonging to a criminal terrorist association” while fighting for Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) in Yemen from 2011 to 2018.
During that time he is suspected of training his Paris childhood friend Cherif Kouachi, who along with his brother Said perpetrated the January 7, 2015, massacre at Charlie Hebdo‘s offices in the French capital — for which AQAP later claimed responsibility.
The trial judge sentenced Cherif to life behind bars, with a minimum of 22 years to be served.
