Federal police investigates UFRJ professor charged of connection with terrorism

The Federal Police is secretly investigating Adlène Hicheur, visiting professor of the Physics Department at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ). The information was disclosed Tuesday (Jan. 12) by the Justice Ministry. The French-Algerian researcher was arrested in 2009 in France, after being accused of sending messages that would indicate his involvement in planning terrorist acts. After serving his jail term, he came to Brazil, where he has been since 2013.

In a letter released with the support of the Brazilian Center for Research in Physics (CBPF), Hicheur denies the allegations that led to the arrest.

The statement of the Justice Ministry also reports that they cannot disclose any further information on the matter and that "other legal aspects of the case are being analyzed together with the ministry's technical agencies."

News article

The case was reported in a news article at the Brazilian magazine Época this week. The magazine has also published Adlène's conversation with a man that the French government claims to be a terrorist and to have adopted a pseudonym, according to the publication. The news article reported that, during the conversation, Hicheur suggested attack targets, which would have led to his arrest.

The researcher claims that the news article digs up "an old story" and is based on lies. He defends himself by saying that the investigation has not provided facts, nor evidences for the case. "The prosecution failed to provide any material evidence to support their arguments; no evidence of intent to commit any act has been offered; no specific 'violent act' has been mentioned aiming at the alleged conspiracy; no proof of identity of the so-called pseudonym has been given, only hypotheses accepted as reliable source of information."

About the news article, Hicheur stated that this is "a dishonest attempt to destroy him."

Hicheur pointed out that back at the time he used to work in the world's most powerful particles accelerator, LHCb, the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN), in Switzerland. Hicheur's fellow in Brazil, the LHCb coordinator at the Brazilian Center for Research in Physics, Ignacio Bediaga also released a letter reporting that Hicheur was appointed by Professor Pierluigi Campana, the then LHCb's general coordinator.

According to Bediaga, the CBPF held a consultation with a Brazilian ambassador on possible impediments to Hicheur's entry to Brazil. "The answer was no, since he was a French citizen and had already served his sentence."

Bediaga says he has never had problems with Hicheur during the period they were fellows.

The letter explains that Hicheur joined the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro as a visiting professor in mid-2014, after he finished his postdoctoral studies at the CBPF. The UFRJ was contacted by Agência Brasil, but they have not spoken about the issue.

Education Ministry

On Monday (Jan. 11), Education Minister Aluizio Mercandante said Hicheur's entry to Brazil should have been restricted. "A person who wrote those emails that have been published and was convicted of terrorist acts does not interest us as a professor in Brazil. We have no interest in that kind of person," declared the minister. According to Mercadante, appropriate action will be taken by the Justice Ministry and the Attorney-General's Office (AGU). Agência Brasil has tried to contact the AGU and  they declared that they "have not been required, so far, to speak out about the legal aspects involving the situation of the referred professional in Brazil."

The Brazilian Center for Research in Physics also released a letter in which fellow researchers announce their support for the French-Algerian professor. Other professors have signed the document: Aurelio Bay, from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne; Pierluigi Campana, from the National Institute for Nuclear Physics in Frascati, Italy; John Ellis, from the King's College in London, UK; Jean-Pierre Lees, from the University of Savoie Mont-Blanc, France; and Monica Pepe-Altarelli, from the CERN, in Switzerland.

"We would like to express our strong support for our fellow," reads the letter's beginning. "Professor Hicheur has already paid a high price for messaging, in 2009, someone accused of being an Al Qaeda's member. Professor Hicheur have never commited, directly or indirectly, any criminal or terrorist act. He fully served his sentence and has been peacefully working in Brazil for many years," further declared the researchers' text.

*Mariana Tokarnia and Mariana Jungmann added to the story

Translated by Amarílis Anchieta