Seven jailed for recruiting Muslims to fight in Iraq
Wednesday 14 May 2008
By AFP
Five French men, an Algerian and a Moroccan were sentenced to between 18 months and seven years in jail on Wednesday for running a network that recruited young Muslims in Paris to fight in Iraq.
A Paris court found the seven men, aged between 24 and 40, guilty of travelling to Iraq to fight US-led forces or recruiting young men in Paris' heavily-immigrant northeast to be fighters from 2004 to 2006.
Frenchmen Farid Benyettou, 27, and Boubakeur El Hakim, 24, considered the ringleaders of the recruitment ring, received a sentence of six years and seven years respectively.
The court ruled that Benyettou had sent young men "to fight in Iraq, possibly carry out suicide attacks, after joining the troops of Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi," Al-Qaeda's leader in Iraq killed in a US air strike in 2006.
Prosecutors had sought eight years in jail for Benyettou, who they identified as the network's mastermind after he was linked to three French nationals found dead in Iraq including one in a suicide attack.
Benyettou admitted in court he may have influenced local youths by defending suicide attacks committed in the name of Islam, but said they were already determined to join the jihad.
He insisted he had "a right to have convictions" even "extremist" ones.
During questioning, Benyettou had admitted helping about a dozen volunteers to Iraq beginning in February 2004 to fight alongside forces loyal to Al-Zarqawi.
But in court, he recanted, saying he had been pressured into admission by interrogators.
Hakim, who fought in Iraq, was found guilty of inciting young Muslims to join him, including through videos shot in the country, and of facilitating their trip to the war-torn country.
A third defendant, Moroccan national Said Abdellah, was handed seven years for his connections with a string of jihadist recruitment networks, including the Paris operation.
And 37-year-old Algerian Nacer Eddine Mettai -- who is already serving a six-year jail sentence -- was given four years for supplying would-be fighters with fake identity documents.
All four have been in custody since the start of the investigation. Both foreigners were also banned from French territory once they leave jail.
A Frenchman of Tunisian descent, Mohammed El Ayouni, who lost an eye and a forearm while battling in the Iraqi city of Fallujah in November 2004, received an 18-month sentence.
The same sentence was given to Thamer Bouchnak and Cherif Kouachi, arrested just before they left for Syria.
The three have already served out their sentences in pre-trial detention.
During a two-week trial in March, the defence had rejected the charge of criminal conspiracy to commit a terrorist act against their clients.
"Terrorism entails severely disrupting public order," said lawyer Vincent Ollivier, in wrapping up his case.
"What public order could they have disrupted" in Iraq, he argued.
At least a dozen youths from the Paris region, either foreign or of North African descent, many of them friends since childhood, are known to have travelled to fight US-led forces in Iraq.
Link
http://www.france24.com/en/20080519-usa-iraq-military-apologises-soldier-shoots-koran?q=node/1771270
Wednesday 14 May 2008
By AFP
Five French men, an Algerian and a Moroccan were sentenced to between 18 months and seven years in jail on Wednesday for running a network that recruited young Muslims in Paris to fight in Iraq.
A Paris court found the seven men, aged between 24 and 40, guilty of travelling to Iraq to fight US-led forces or recruiting young men in Paris' heavily-immigrant northeast to be fighters from 2004 to 2006.
Frenchmen Farid Benyettou, 27, and Boubakeur El Hakim, 24, considered the ringleaders of the recruitment ring, received a sentence of six years and seven years respectively.
The court ruled that Benyettou had sent young men "to fight in Iraq, possibly carry out suicide attacks, after joining the troops of Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi," Al-Qaeda's leader in Iraq killed in a US air strike in 2006.
Prosecutors had sought eight years in jail for Benyettou, who they identified as the network's mastermind after he was linked to three French nationals found dead in Iraq including one in a suicide attack.
Benyettou admitted in court he may have influenced local youths by defending suicide attacks committed in the name of Islam, but said they were already determined to join the jihad.
He insisted he had "a right to have convictions" even "extremist" ones.
During questioning, Benyettou had admitted helping about a dozen volunteers to Iraq beginning in February 2004 to fight alongside forces loyal to Al-Zarqawi.
But in court, he recanted, saying he had been pressured into admission by interrogators.
Hakim, who fought in Iraq, was found guilty of inciting young Muslims to join him, including through videos shot in the country, and of facilitating their trip to the war-torn country.
A third defendant, Moroccan national Said Abdellah, was handed seven years for his connections with a string of jihadist recruitment networks, including the Paris operation.
And 37-year-old Algerian Nacer Eddine Mettai -- who is already serving a six-year jail sentence -- was given four years for supplying would-be fighters with fake identity documents.
All four have been in custody since the start of the investigation. Both foreigners were also banned from French territory once they leave jail.
A Frenchman of Tunisian descent, Mohammed El Ayouni, who lost an eye and a forearm while battling in the Iraqi city of Fallujah in November 2004, received an 18-month sentence.
The same sentence was given to Thamer Bouchnak and Cherif Kouachi, arrested just before they left for Syria.
The three have already served out their sentences in pre-trial detention.
During a two-week trial in March, the defence had rejected the charge of criminal conspiracy to commit a terrorist act against their clients.
"Terrorism entails severely disrupting public order," said lawyer Vincent Ollivier, in wrapping up his case.
"What public order could they have disrupted" in Iraq, he argued.
At least a dozen youths from the Paris region, either foreign or of North African descent, many of them friends since childhood, are known to have travelled to fight US-led forces in Iraq.
Link
http://www.france24.com/en/20080519-usa-iraq-military-apologises-soldier-shoots-koran?q=node/1771270