End the Schengen Ban and Ongoing Restrictions on Our Colleague
Adlene Hicheur (Version française disponible ici)

We are submitting this petition to request the immediate lifting of the Schengen entry ban imposed on our colleague, the Algerian physicist Adlene Hicheur. We also request an end to the ongoing restrictions that prevent him from leading a normal academic and personal life.

As documented in several articles in the journal Nature*, Dr Hicheur's persecution has continued for more than fifteen years. He was placed under preventive arrest in France in 2009, convicted on terrorism-related charges in a correctional case after thirty months of detention, and released shortly afterwards.

Following his release from prison in 2012, Dr Hicheur moved to Brazil, where he worked as a particle physics researcher and professor at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ) until 2016. He was then suddenly removed from his home in Rio de Janeiro, without explanation or formal accusation. He was taken to the airport, and forcibly deported to France, despite being registered as an Algerian worker, and despite protests from his Brazilian colleagues and the UFRJ rector.

Upon his return to France, he was placed under house arrest again without formal accusation. After five months, in December 2016, he voluntarily renounced his French citizenship. He was then permitted to leave France for Algeria. However, it was later discovered that the French authorities had banned him from entering the Schengen Area without prior notification, effectively preventing him from accepting academic positions or participating in international scientific collaborations. This disproportionate decision has harmed his life and hindered legitimate academic exchanges. Since 2019, he has been engaged in legal proceedings to lift the ban, yet no final decision has been issued.

Having unsuccessfully attempted to resume his research career in Algeria, he has sought academic opportunities abroad. Despite being selected for positions or to set up academic programs in at least five countries (Taiwan, Rwanda, Costa Rica, Vietnam, and Peru), each appointment was blocked by local administrative authorities. In some cases, this followed undisclosed reports from foreign authorities, with an invitation to leave the country. The Schengen ban also prevents him from visiting family and colleagues in Europe.

Dr Hicheur has been stranded in Algeria without an income for years. Nevertheless, he continues to conduct world-class physics research as part of the LHCb experiment, despite severe professional and material constraints.

Dr Hicheur served his sentence in a case that was definitively closed in 2012. He should be free to rebuild his life. Yet he continues to face restrictions that amount to indefinite punishment without due process. We believe he deserves to live normally and contribute fully to science.

We therefore call upon the relevant authorities to:

• End the ongoing persecution that has now extended beyond Europe;
• Lift the Schengen entry ban imposed by the French authorities;
• Restore his fundamental civil and human rights, including freedom of movement, association, expression and communication, and the freedom to pursue his work as a scientist.

We also encourage all signatories to raise awareness of this case within their professional and personal networks, engage with the relevant authorities to work towards lifting the Schengen ban, and help identify employment opportunities for Dr Hicheur.

See also: https://science4peace.com/adlene-hicheur/index.html

Contact:

monica.pepe.altarelli@gmail.com, vincenzo.maria.vagnoni@gmail.com, hannesjung@t-online.de

Further infos:

[1] https://www.nature.com/articles/news.2011.584

[2] https://www.nature.com/articles/478155a 

[3] https://www.nature.com/articles/nature.2012.10293

[4] https://blogs.nature.com/news/2012/05/french-physicist-jailed-for-5-years-on-dubious-intent-of-terrorism-charges.html

[5] https://www.nature.com/articles/537287a

[6] https://www.nature.com/articles/537279b

[7] https://www.nature.com/articles/news.2010.592

First Signatures of Scientists (omitting all titles, the affiliations are given for identification only, and do not imply endorsement by the institutions):

Aurelio Bay (EPFL Lausanne)
Pierluigi Campana (INFN Frascati)
Ignacio De Bediaga Hickman (CBPF Rio de Janeiro)
Leandro de Paula (UFRJ Rio de Janeiro)
Ulrik Egede (Monash University Melbourne)
Timothy Gershon (University of Warwick)
Hannes Jung (DESY)
Michelangelo Mangano (CERN)
Matteo Palutan (INFN Frascati)
Chris Parkes (University of Manchester)
Giovanni Passaleva (INFN Florence)
Monica Pepe-Altarelli (INFN Frascati)
Olivier Schneider (EPFL Lausanne)
Vincenzo Vagnoni (INFN Bologna)
Guy Wilkinson (University of Oxford)