A French former nuclear physicist is going on trial on charges of plotting terrorism with al Qaida's north African wing.

His lawyers deny that he did anything wrong.

Adlene Hicheur worked at Switzerland's celebrated CERN particle accelerator laboratory.

Investigators say he sent emails to suspected al Qaida contacts about the need to punish Western governments for the allegedly anti-Muslim wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Hicheur faces charges of "criminal association with a view to plotting terrorist attacks" in the trial opening in Paris today.

The trial comes after another young Frenchman of Algerian descent, Mohamed Merah, claimed responsibility for killing seven people and said he had links to al Qaida.

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