[JURIST] France’s chief prosecutor said on Tuesday that the man who allegedly beheaded his boss, pinned the severed head on a fence post and tried to blow up an industrial plant will be charged with terrorism and murder. The announcement [Reuters report] by Prosecutor Francois Molins came after the investigation of Yassin Salhi, who was arrested near the scene of the incident outside of Lyons on Friday. Investigators found that Salhi had sent two photos of him with the murdered victim to an Islamist contact in Syria. Salhi’s sister revealed that he had spent time in Syria in 2009. A lawyer for Salhi claims Salhi is not an Islamic militant and Salhi himself claims his actions were purely motivated by personal problems, namely an argument with both his boss and his wife. Prosecutors claim they have unearthed other evidence linking Salhi to Islamist extremists.

The attack was one of a series of three terrorist attacks that happened on Friday in France, Tunisia and Kuwait City. It is unclear whether the attacks were coordinated. French prosecutors claim Salhi left home early on Friday with a long-bladed knife, hit his boss on the head with a car jack, then strangled him and driven to the gas plant. On his way to the gas plant Salhi severed the head of his victim and pinned it on a fence. This attack comes five months after the attack on the Charlie Hebdo magazine [JURIST report] in Paris. France’s National Assembly, the lower house of parliament, approved a bill [JURIST report] relating to Intelligence in May, which would allow authorities to increase surveillance of anyone linked to terrorism investigations without permission from a judge. The bill authorizes intelligence agencies to tap e-mails and phone calls, place recording cameras inside homes, and install devices that monitor computer keystrokes in real time. The French Justice Ministry also called on prosecutors to crack down on hate speech, anti-Semitism and support of terrorism.