Charlie Hebdo attacker’s ‘mentor’ seeks return to UK

THE alleged mentor of one of the Charlie Hebdo terrorists is about to be released from jail amid questions over whether he will be allowed back into Britain.

Djamel Beghal, an Algerian-born alqaeda jihadist jailed in France for terrorism offences in 2005, is nearing the end of his sentences for a series of crimes, including planning to blow up the American Embassy in Paris, and may return to his family in the UK.

Beghal, 52, was banned from Britain in 2009, but his family have been fighting to clear his name through the Supreme Court and the European Court of Human Rights. The Daily Telegraph understands the ban remains in place.

Beghal’s wife, Sylvie, a French citizen, and their four children live in Leicester, where Beghal became radicalised in the late Nineties.

While in prison, Beghal reportedly mentored Chérif Kouachi, who killed 12 people at the Paris offices of the Charlie Hebdo satirical magazine with his brother, Saïd Kouachi, in January 2015. He also has links with Amedy Kouachi, the Isil terrorist who shot dead four Jewish shoppers after the Hebdo atrocity.

France wants to deport Beghal on Aug 5, the day he is due to leave Vezin prison in Rennes. His lawyers say his life would be in danger if he returned to Algeria. “This sets up the prospect of a legal challenge to the British decision to ban him,” said a source close to the case. “Beghal will be a released prisoner and reformed character who has every right to begin a new life with his loved ones in any country he chooses.”

Beghal settled in France in 1987 and married in 1990. Seven years later, he moved his family to Leicester. While in the UK, Beghal travelled to Afghanistan to receive orders from Osama bin Laden, the late al-qaeda chief.

British and French intelligence saw Beghal as one of al-qaeda’s leading recruiters in Europe. In 2000, the family moved to Afghanistan. After his arrest at Dubai airport in 2001 for carrying a false passport, Beghal was discovered to have organised an al-qaeda cell during his time in the Midlands.