Slashdot Mirror
Arrested CERN Physicist Gets 5 Years For Terror Plot
An anonymous reader sends this followup to news we discussed in 2009 of a CERN physicist who was arrested for allegedly being in contact with al-Qaeda. The physicist, Adlene Hicheur, has now been sentenced to five years in prison.
"He came under suspicion when threatening messages were sent to President Sarkozy in early 2008. The security services uncovered a series of email exchanges between Hicheur and an alleged al-Qaeda member called Mustapha Debchi. After his arrest in 2009 police found a large quantity of Islamist literature at his parents' home. At the start of his trial the 35-year-old scientist admitted that he had been going through a psychologically 'turbulent' time in his life when he wrote the emails. He had suffered a serious back injury, for which he had been taking morphine. But he always denied he intended to carry out any attacks."
Well, that's OK then, let him go.
What's a fracking wanker? Is that like, someone who jerks off to the extraction of shale oil?
Or *use* CERN to destroy the false vacuum.
As far as I can tell this guy did not actually do anything. He got 5 years for a thought crime.
Excuse me, but please get off my Pennisetum Clandestinum, eh!
Nice guess: "General director of the National Police Frederic Pechenard stated in November 2009 that Hicheur planned to attack a base of the National Defence in Annecy, which harbours the 27eme bataillon de chasseurs alpins, involved in Afghanistan." (Wikipedia.)
In short, it looks like he was a scientist who hated the government, not someone bent on destroying the accomplishments of western civilization.
Interestingly, the BBC article calls CERN "Cern" as though it were a person. To whom do we address our complaints?
Bio questions? Ask me to start a Q&A journal. Computer analogies available for most topics!
And Standard Model is His prophet!
"Kill 'em all and let Root sort 'em out"
That's a typical courtroom sketch in France, pencil and watercolor on paper. There are a handful of journalists specialized in courtroom sketch in France, so you've got to recognize their artwork. This one is signed Benoit Peyrucq from Agence France Presse. Just google his name to find more drawings from his hand.
More examples of French courtrooom sketches
http://www.iconovox.com/blog/2009/09/29/le-dessin-au-tribunal/
http://traitsdejustice.bpi.fr/home.php?lg=fr&id=78
if you threaten mayhem, it is a not a "thought crime" to catch you and punish you on that basis
if you threaten mayhem it is a statement of intent, for which you can, and should, be punished
for example, if i were to threaten the life of the president, i would get a visit from the secret service, and i should get such a visit, and i should be punished
if i call my girlfriend and tell her i am going to kill her, she should call the police, and the police should visit me, and they should visit me, and i should be punished
this is not rocket science here folks. if you make a statement of intent to do bodily harm, it is going to be taken seriously, and it should be taken seriously
now mod me troll and go back to being flabbergasted at a simple commonplace and normal legal convention
intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
I think I read before that BBC policy is to only capitalize the first letter of acronyms, as distinct in this context from initialisms, which are when you abbreviate something with the first letter of every word but don't pronounce the result as if a word e.g. Cern vs EPA.
The enemies of Democracy are
Interestingly, the BBC article calls CERN "Cern" as though it were a person. To whom do we address our complaints?
To Bbc?
We're selectively breeding for an inability to commit murder. Social engineering at its finest!
Maybe a battlestar pilot with a habit of rubbing-one-out on the hangar deck after a successful run against the toasters.
What ever happened to old fashioned spycraft? You know who he is, put him under surveillance, monitor his emails/phone/travel/visitors, he's in contact with al Qaeda, let him run with it. If he is directed to meet any local AQ contacts, bam, new surveillance targets. If he organises an actual attack, you intercept and now you have him and possibly a whole local cell, and not just for writing a few stupid emails. Hell, if nothing happens, then arrest him, wave terrorism charges at him, but only to turn him and send him out to work for you; give him a better story to lure out AQ, say he has access to radioactive material for a dirty bomb, but needs explosives and a bomb maker...
Science is all about firing a drunk pig out of a cannon just to see what happens.
Yes.
Next question.
This sig is not paradoxical or ironic.
Issuing death threats in writing or over the phone is a crime in most places, when done in a manner that can be recorded a direct threat of violence ceases to be a thought crime and becomes a stated intention, (metaphorically, it's a declaration of war). OTHOH, 5yrs is way over the top for such a trivial offence against the peace the rest of us actively maintain, especially since he had time to act on his threats but chose not to. A weekend in the slammer would be more than enough to convince him he's not as 'smart' as he thinks he is.
I think more fair chunk of the violence in the world could be averted if someone steps in early and cools things down with a glimpse of the consequences (or a distractingly funny one liner), but 5yrs is stepping in with jackboots since it's longer than most people get for carrying out their verbal threats of violence.
In other words, there are no GoodGuys(TM) in TFA, it's not a matter of choosing who's right because neither side has a moral or ethical leg to stand on.
And did you exchange a walk on part in the war for a lead role in a cage? - Pink Floyd.