A Paris criminal court convicted nine people on Thursday including a French-Algerian former prison inmate who admitted establishing an Islamic group that called for armed jihad in France. Safe Bourada, 38, was sentenced to 15 years in prison while eight others received penalties of one to nine years on charges linked to financing of and association with a terror group.Bourada admitted in court to creating a militant group called "Ansar al-Fath," or Partisans of Victory. The group was suspected of planning attacks on the Paris Metro and Orly airport. It was dismantled in 2005 after French authorities received a tip from Algerian counterparts.
In 2005, Christophe Chaboud, head of the counterterrorism unit of the national police, told The Associated Press that the group had had "indirect" contacts with Iraq's former al-Qaida leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, who was killed in a U.S. airstrike in June 2006 in Diyala province.
The court ruled that one of the group's members -- Kaci Ouarab, 31 -- had received weapons training in Lebanon in 2005 that was designed to help carry out bombings in France. Ouarab, who the court considered "the natural, legitimate and even operational successor" of Bourada, was sentenced to nine years without the possibility of parole for at least six.
Kais Melliti, 36, considered an important organizing and financial operative, was given eight years _ without the possibility of parole for at least two-thirds of that term. Another suspect, Djamel Badaoui, 31, was sentenced to five years. The court ruled he was in charge of "seizing goods" _ notably by extorting money from prostitutes on three occasions, to fund terror attacks.
Two French converts to Islam _ Stephane Hadoux, 40, and Emmanuel Nieto, 34, _ were given three-year sentences, half of which were suspended by the court.
Bourada was one of 36 Islamic militants convicted a decade ago for providing support for bombings that terrorized France in 1995. He received a 10-year term, but won early release in 2003 under police surveillance. Under Thursday's verdict, he will not be eligible for parole for at least 10 years.