A senior journalist now tasked with directing artificial intelligence policy at the BBC was previously jailed over immigration offences after an al-Qaeda training manual was discovered on his computer.
Algerian national Hicham Yezza now serves as the principal data scientist for Responsible AI at the public broadcaster despite a conviction and a history of controversial online posts.
Al-Qaeda manual found on university computer
Police launched a counter-terrorism investigation in May 2008 while Yezza was working in an administrative role at the University of Nottingham.
Staff members alerted law enforcement after discovering a copy of an al-Qaeda training manual stored on his work machine.
The document had been sent to him by postgraduate student Rizwaan Sabir, who was researching Islamist terrorism and allegedly wanted help printing the file.
Officers arrested both men under the Terrorism Act 2000 on May 14, 2008, holding them in custody for around six days.
Yezza maintained that he had no involvement in terrorism and claimed the manual was sent solely for printing rather than operational purposes. Both men were released without charge.
Immigration arrest followed terrorism probe
Immediately after his release from the counter-terrorism investigation, authorities rearrested Yezza under immigration legislation and sought to deport him to Algeria.
The case sparked outrage from academics and civil liberties campaigners, becoming known as the “Nottingham Two” arrests.
In 2009, a court sentenced Yezza to nine months in prison for an immigration offence involving his claim to have valid permission to remain in Britain.
He was released after serving five months, and later obtained British citizenship.
Anti-Israel posts on social media
Following his release, Yezza launched Ceasefire Magazine and served as its editor-in-chief from September 2010 to September 2021.
He also worked as an editorial consultant for Al Jazeera between November 2017 and June 2019.
Prior to joining the BBC in 2021, Yezza was an active social media commenter who frequently posted about the “occupation and apartheid” in Israel.
During 2018, his social media posts defended former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn against accusations of antisemitism and claimed rockets fired from Gaza into Israel were “resist[ance]”.
Broadcaster appoints former convict to AI role
The BBC hired Yezza in 2021, where he spent three years and 10 months in editorial roles.
He initially worked as a Middle East and North Africa expert, reporting on the Gaza conflict despite his past statements, before becoming a senior journalist in BBC Monitoring’s central editorial Data Hub team.
By July 2025, Yezza was appointed as the corporation’s principal data scientist for Responsible AI.
helping guide and shape how the BBC approaches and applies responsible AI use across the organization.
BBC statement on the Responsible AI role
His position puts him in charge of guiding how artificial intelligence technologies are deployed across the state-funded media organization.