Cherif Kouachi: 5 Fast Facts You Need to Know

Cherif Kouachi, 32, has been named as one of three suspects in the January 7 terror attack at the French satire magazine Charlie Hebdo in Paris.

The other suspects have been named as Said Kouachi, 34, and Hamyd Mourad, 18.

Two of the three men are in custody, one is dead, according to NBC News. The network is quoting two senior U.S. counterterrorism officials. That report is unconfirmed.

Here’s what we know about Cherif Kouachi and his alleged role in this atrocity:

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1. He’s a Convicted Terrorist

(Handout)

The Associated Press reported in 2008 that Cherif Kouachi had been sentenced to three years in prison in Paris for helping to funnel prospective jihadi fighters from France to Iraq. He served 18 months, with the remainder of his sentence was suspended. In that case, Cherif was named as a member of the 19th arrondissement network, named for the mainly North African neighborhood where they were based.

The New York Times first reported on Cherif in 2005. It was reported that he had become inspired to fight in jihad due to the Abu Ghraib prisoner abuses. Prior to the emergence of those abuses, the Liberation newspaper reported, Cherif was not a devout muslim. He had girlfriends, smoked and drank alcohol.

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2. Cherif & Said Kouachi Are Orphaned Sons of Algerian Parents

Said Kouachi’s passport, which police say they found in the getaway car. (Handout)

Brothers Cherif and Said Kouachi were born in Paris, raised in the French city of Rennes, and later moved back to Paris, where Cherif worked as pizza delivery man, reports Liberation. The Kouachi brothers were orphaned by their Algerian-immigrant parents as children. A German journalist with the tabloid Bild tweeted this pic, the reporter says it shows the Kouachi brothers together: