France jails IS recruits

Prison terms of six to nine years were imposed Wednesday on seven young men from Strasbourg who in late 2013 traveled to Syria where they were trained for weeks by the extremist "Islamic State" (IS) militia.

The nine-year term went to Karim Mohamed-Aggad, whose younger brother Foued was among the assailants killed while taking the lives of 90 rock-concertgoers in Paris' Bataclan hall on November 13.

In total, 130 people were killed on that night in multiple attacks across central Paris.

The seven jailed Wednesday after a two-month trial were among a group of 10 with family origins in North Africa, which had left France for Syria in December 2013. Some claimed later they did so for humanitarian reasons.

Two others died shortly after arriving in Syria. The others, except Foued, had returned to France in March and April 2014 and were arrested in May of that year.

Foued Mohamed-Aggad returned later to France for the November 13 attacks.

'Active interest in jihadism'

The court said Karim Mohamed-Aggad had shown an "active interest in jihadism."

His lawyer, Francoise Cotta, told reporters that he had "suffered" on sentencing because of his family name.

Public prosecutors had demanded 10 years for Karim Mohamed-Aggad on the formal charges of criminal association with a view to commit acts of terrorism. They described him as one of the ringleaders.

During the trial, the prosecution had cited evidence gathered from wiretaps and from "jihad" documents found in the suspect's computers and mobile phones.

Belgium sends suspects to France

In a parallel move Wednesday, Belgium transferred to France two men who allegedly helped the top surviving suspect from November's attacks, Salah Abdeslam.

Paris prosecutors identified the pair transferred as Mohammed Amri and Ali Oulkadi.

Amri is accused of picking up Salah Abdeslam in Paris after the attacks and bringing him to Belgium. Oulkadi is alleged to have dropped him off at a Brussels "safe house" used as a workshop to make explosive belts.

Last week, Belgium transferred a suspected accomplice of Amri, Hamza Attou, who was also present when Abdeslam was brought back from Paris.

Abdeslam was arrested in Brussels in March after four months in hiding and was extradited to France, where a first hearing took place in May.

ipj/kms (AP, AFP, Reuters)