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Brother of Paris Attack Militant Is Sentenced to Prison Brother of Gunman in Paris Attacks, Recruited by ISIS, Is Sent to Prison
(about 9 hours later)
PARIS — The brother of one of the Islamist attackers who killed 130 people in Paris was sentenced to nine years in prison on Wednesday for traveling to Syria to train as a militant fighter. PARIS — The brother of one of the gunmen who killed 90 people in November at the Bataclan concert hall in Paris was among seven men sentenced to prison on Wednesday for being part of a criminal conspiracy to carry out terrorist attacks.
The man, Karim Mohamed-Aggad, was one of a group of seven defendants prosecuted in connection with a trip they made to Syria in December 2013. His brother Foued was one of the three men who killed 90 people at the Bataclan concert hall in Paris. The man, Karim Mohamed-Aggad, 25, was part of a group that traveled to Syria in 2013 to receive training from members of the Islamic State.
The seven defendants, ages 24 to 27, were tried on charges of taking part in an Islamist recruitment network and of receiving training from the Islamic State militant group. The recruits included his brother Foued Mohamed-Aggad, 23, who went on to become one of the three men who attacked the concert hall on Nov. 13, 2015, part of a night of violence that left 130 people dead in and around Paris. Foued Mohamed-Aggad died in the attack.
The sentence given to Karim Mohammed-Aggad was slightly shorter than the 10 years requested by a public prosecutor in the case. The defendants were sentenced to prison terms of six to nine years, with Karim Mohamed-Aggad receiving the longest sentence. They were tried on charges of taking part in an Islamist recruitment network and of receiving training from the Islamic State militant group.
During the trial, prosecutors cited evidence gathered from wiretaps and from documents found in the computers and mobile phones of the suspects. The men, from Strasbourg in eastern France, were part of a larger group that left for Syria in December 2013. After two members of the group died, the rest, except for Foued Mohamed-Aggad, returned to France. They were arrested in raids in the spring of 2014. Foued Mohamed-Aggad returned to France later for the Nov. 13 attacks.
In his defense, Mr. Mohamed-Aggad tried to distance himself from his brother. “You choose your friends, not your family" he said at one point. During the trial, prosecutors cited evidence that included the contents of Karim Mohamed-Aggad’s computer, which contained messages that he exchanged with his brother until March 2014, before Karim was arrested by the French authorities.
Some of the defendants told investigators they thought they were going to Syria on a humanitarian mission. Others said they left to fight against the forces of President Bashar al-Assad of Syria, not to become terrorists. One of them, written by Foued Mohamed-Aggad, said: “If I come back to France, it will not be to go to jail. It will be to explode everything, so don’t tempt me too much to come back.”
Two more men suspected of links to the Paris attacks of November 2015 were handed over to the French authorities on Wednesday by the Belgian courts. The men, Mohamed Amri and Ali Oulkadi, are accused of helping a key figure in the case, Salah Abdeslam. As part of his defense, Karim Mohamed-Aggad tried to distance himself from his brother, saying in court at one point, “You choose your friends, not your family.”
On Tuesday, a Belgian judge convicted and sentenced 15 members of an Islamic State terrorist cell who were arrested in a police raid in the town of Verviers in early 2015. Prosecutors said they had been actively planning attacks on targets including the Brussels airport, and had been in frequent contact with Abelhamid Abaaoud, one of the planners of the Paris attacks, who was killed in a raid by the French police. Also on Wednesday, Belgium agreed to hand over to France two Belgians, Mohamed Amri, 27, and Ali Oulkadi, 31, suspected of playing a role in the Paris attacks. The two men are accused of helping a main suspect in the attacks, Salah Abdeslam, who fled Paris and hid in Belgium until his capture.
Mr. Amri and Mr. Oulkadi are said to have worked with Hamza Attou, 21, who was also extradited to France. Mr. Attou and Mr. Amri admitted that they accompanied Mr. Abdeslam back to Brussels after the attacks in Paris. Mr. Amri is also suspected of helping to make the explosive jackets that were used by the attackers in the Paris attacks.