French Court Jails 4 Over Iraq `Jihad` Plans

A French court sentenced four men to jail terms on Thursday over plans to launch attacks in France and to smuggle Islamist fighters to Iraq, in the second such trial this year.

The three Moroccans and one French national of Algerian origin were found guilty of trying to recruit young radicals for "jihad" in Iraq, under instruction from a man described as "Mohammed the Libyan" who has not been identified.

The four were charged with "criminal association in a terrorist enterprise".

They received jail sentences of two to six years. One of the Moroccans was also banned from French territory for 10 years and the other two were banned for five years. The exclusion orders will come into force at the end of the jail terms.

In a similar case, six French men and one Algerian were sentenced on May 14 to between 18 months and seven years in prison for their involvement in another network which smuggled Islamist fighters to Iraq.

One of the Moroccans convicted on Thursday, Hamid Bach, 38, received instructions during a 2004 trip to Syria before returning to the southwestern French city of Montpellier to prepare attacks, prosecutors said. He denied this.

Police found large amounts of chemical products and electronic components at his home when he was arrested in June 2005.

Prosecutors said the four men convicted on Thursday belonged to a network with connections in Morocco, where other members have been jailed, and in Algeria, where they received logistical support from Al Qaeda in the Maghreb.

Since adopting the Al Qaeda name last year, the group, previously known as the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat, has claimed several attacks including coordinated suicide bombings in Algiers in December 2007 which killed 41 people.