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France Islamic State trial: seven jailed for training in Syria

Belgium has also extradited to France Mohamed Amri and Ali Oulkadi, accused of having helped Salah Abdeslam in November Paris attacks.

La rédaction de Mediapart

This article is freely available.

Seven men have have received prison sentences in France for recruiting and training with fighters of so-called Islamic State (IS) in Syria, reports the BBC.

The men, aged 24 to 27, were given jail terms ranging from six to nine years.

Among them is Karim Mohamed-Aggad, the brother of one of the militants involved in the attacks in Paris that killed 130 people last November.

Meanwhile, Belgium has extradited to France two suspects of involvement in those attacks, a prosecutor says.

Mohamed Amri and Ali Oulkadi are accused of having helped fellow suspect Salah Abdeslam.

Prosecutors say Mohamed Amri was with Hamza Attou in the car that picked up Salah Abdeslam on 13 November, helping him escape to Belgium.

Hamza Attou was extradited to France last week to face preliminary charges of helping a terrorist criminal linked to an act of terrorism.

And Ali Oulkadi is said to have driven Salah Abdeslam from Laeken to Schaerbeek the day after the attacks.

The seven men sentenced on Wednesday were from Strasbourg and had gone to Syria between 2013 and 2014.

Prosecutor Nicolas Le Bris said during the trial each of the involved was determined to join a jihadi group and once in Syria "fitted in perfectly".

Read more of this report from the BBC.