A jihadist with close links to the perpetrators of the 2015 Charlie Hebdo massacre was sentenced by a French court to life imprisonment on Thursday.
Peter Cherif, a 42-year-old Parisian-born militant was found guilty of “belonging to a criminal terrorist association” following his involvement with Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) spanning from 2011 to 2018.
The court’s decision was made following a trial that began in mid-September.
During his time with AQAP, Cherif is suspected of training Cherif Kouachi, one of the two brothers who carried out the deadly attack on Jan. 7, 2015, at the Paris offices of the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo in which 12 people were killed.
The terrorist attack was later claimed by AQAP, citing the magazine’s portrayal of the Prophet Muhammad as justification.
The presiding judge sentenced Cherif to life imprisonment, emphasizing the gravity of his actions. He must serve a minimum of 22 years before being eligible for parole.
Prosecutors described Cherif as the “architect” behind a series of radical Islamist attacks that plagued France in the late 2010s. In a statement on Wednesday before the sentencing hearing, prosecutors called Cherif the “cornerstone of planning” for the Charlie Hebdo attack.
The court also heard that Cherif was implicated in a separate incident involving the kidnapping of three French aid workers in Yemen in 2011, where he allegedly served as a guard and interpreter.
Throughout the trial, Cherif denied any involvement in the planning or execution of the Charlie Hebdo attack, stating he was unaware it would take place.
He refused to answer most questions throughout the trial, and on Thursday his defense attorney, Nail El Ouchikli, claimed his client felt as though he had “taken part in a rigged match,” in remarks cited by AFP and France24.
The attack on Charlie Hebdo shocked the world, igniting widespread condemnation and leading to the global slogan “Je suis Charlie” as a show of solidarity against terrorism.