A French nuclear physicist and his connection to al Qaeda!

Interesting Article: Brother: French physicist denies terror plans By FRANK JORDANS / Geneva published Tuesday, October 11, 2011
French authorities say that a 34-year-old French physicist-Adlène Hicheur has acknowledged to investigators that he corresponded over the Internet with a member of al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb. He has been detained since 2009, and an investigating magistrate will decide on October 13, 2011 whether the case against Hicheur should be closed or handed to a prosecutor, who would have up to one more year to prepare a trial.


In a previous blog entry I went into detail about Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) (blog entry: Who might be hiding Gaddafi?). Well, they seem to have some major connections these days; Adlène Hicheur is a French particle physicist, best known for his thesis in 2003 about the production of high energy Eta prime mesons in the decays of B mesons. Prime Mesons appear in nature only as short-lived products of very high-energy interactions in matter, between particles made of quarks (an elementary particle and a fundamental constituent of matter. Quarks combine to form composite particles called hadrons, the most stable of which are protons and neutrons, the components of atomic nuclei!). Ronald Kotulak, writing for the Chicago Tribune, called the B meson "bizarre" and stated that the meson "may open the door to a new era of physics" with its proven interactions with the "spooky realm of antimatter (antimatter-due to the high energy released in interactions, is thought to have military applications either as an explosive or in triggering nuclear fusion weapons"). Adlène Hicheur was arrested in France on October 8, 2009, due to suspicion of being connected to an Algerian terrorist organization, Al-Qaida in Islamic Maghreb. General Director of the National Police Frédéric Péchenard (French police officer and high civil servant with the Ministry of the Interior. He has served as General Director of the French National Police since 11 June, 2007) stated in November 2009 that Hicheur planned to attack a base of the National Defense in Annecy (a commune in the Haute-Savoie department in the Rhône-Alpes region in south-eastern France.), which harbors the 27ème bataillon de chasseurs alpins (battalion of the French Army), involved in Afghanistan.  Adlène Hicheur, who is of Algerian origin, told the Islamic group that he was interested in committing an attack but had not begun any material preparation, according to police sources. The physicist, who works at the giant atomic collider at CERN (European Organization for Nuclear Research), which straddles Swiss and French territory, was placed under surveillance by French officers after US intelligence services intercepted internet messages he allegedly sent to contacts close to AQIM. At the time of this blog entry, the French investigating magistrate has not made a decision, but to release him would definitely be a mistake. Preventive detention in a Paris prison would be the best path until we can gather what he was up to.   

References:
R. Kotulak (26 September 2006). "Antimatter discovery could alter physics: Particle tracked between real world, spooky realm". Deseret News  
Andre Gsponer; Jean-Pierre Hurni (1986). "The physics of antimatter induced fusion and thermonuclear explosions". Proceedings of the International Conference on Emerging Nuclear Energy Systems. 4. World Scientific. p. 166–169.
Hadron Collider physicist Adlene Hicheur charged with terrorism, The Times.
Overbye, Dennis, "Physicist’s Jailing Is Veiled in Mystery," NYT March 14, 2011