A fugitive jihadist has been deported from Djibouti to France in connection with the deadly 2015 attack on satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, French authorities said.

The Paris prosecutor's office said Peter Cherif was expelled to France after his recent arrest in Djibouti, and was immediately taken into custody and charged upon his arrival on December 23 at Paris's Charles de Gaulle Airport.

Cherif is believed to have had close contact with the two brothers who carried out the Charlie Hebdo attack.

France's defense minister says he played an "important role in organizing" the attack on Charlie Hebdo that killed 12 people.

Cherif had reportedly traveled to Iraq and Syria in the early 2000s, and had been on the run from French authorities since 2011.

Based on reporting by AP and DPA