Country Reports on Terrorism 2012

On May 4, a French court sentenced Algerian-born particle physicist, Adlene Hicheur, 35, to five
years in prison for “criminal association with the intent to prepare terrorist acts.” While Hicheur
studied and was employed in France, he exchanged 35 emails, some of them encrypted, with a
representative of al-Qa’ida in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) in Algeria in 2009.
The following high profile arrests took place in 2012:
On January 25, French Police arrested Basque Fatherland and Liberty (ETA) member
Ernesto Prat Urzainqui, one of Spain’s most wanted terrorists.
On March 19, the brother of violent extremist Mohamed Merah, Abdelkader Merah, was
arrested, and on March 25 was charged with criminal conspiracy for planning terrorist
acts, and of complicity in murder and gang robbery.
On March 30, police conducted raids targeting suspected terrorists in Toulouse, Nantes,
Le Mans, Lyon, Nice, and in the Paris region, arresting 17. On April 3, 13 of the suspects
were placed under formal investigation, one remained in pre-trial detention, and four
were released. Several of the suspects were accused of planning the kidnapping of Albert
Levy, a Jewish magistrate from Lyon.
On April 4, police conducted raids targeting suspected terrorists in Marseille, Roubaix,
Trappes, Carpentras, Valence, and Pau, arresting 10. The suspects reportedly visited
websites that expressed violent extremist views, and some were suspected of traveling to
Afghanistan and Pakistan to train in terrorist camps.
On May 27, the military leader of ETA, Oroitz Gurruchaga Gorgorza, and his deputy,
Xabier Aramburu, were arrested in the southwestern French village of Cuana following a
joint operation conducted by the French Internal Security Service, the Spanish Civil
Guard, and the Spanish intelligence services.
On October 6, police conducted raids targeting suspected terrorists in Cannes, Strasbourg,
and the Paris suburb of Torcy, killing one suspect and arresting 12 others. Five of the 12
suspects were released on October 10 without charges.
On October 27, French authorities, as the result of a joint investigation by the Spanish
Civil Guard and French police, arrested ETA members Izaskun Lesaka Arguelles and
Joseba Iturbide Ochoteco. Lesaka was one of the three members of ETA’s leadership
(ETA’s “Holy Trinity,” as they are referred to in press). Lesaka read many of the group’s
communiqués in televised statements.
On December 17, French intelligence services arrested three individuals suspected of
violent extremism in the neighborhoods of Bon-Voyage and les Moulins in Nice. The
three men were accused of training in terrorist training camps in Jakarta, Indonesia.
Other actions in 2012 included:
On April 2, violent Islamic extremist Ali Belhadad (Algerian), and Imam Almany Baradji
(Malian), were deported from France. The Ministry of Interior also announced that Imam
Saad Nasser Alchatry (Saudi Arabian) would not be allowed back into France; while
Imam Yusuf Yuksel (Turkish) and violent extremist Malek Drine (Tunisian) would also
be deported at a later date. According to the Ministry, the imams made anti-Semitic
statements in their sermons and called for Muslims to reject Western values.
On November 21, Paris’ Sentence Enforcement Court granted parole to Georges Ibrahim
Abdullah, on the condition that he immediately be deported to Lebanon. Abdallah, the
convicted terrorist and Lebanese national sentenced to life in prison for his involvement
in the 1982 murders of a U.S. military attaché and an Israeli diplomat in Paris, and the
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