Ex-ISIS Recruiter Gets 22-Year Sentence for Luring French Youth to Syria

This conviction of the 35-year-old recruiter was accompanied by a two-thirds security period by the Special Assize Court of Paris, in accordance with the requisitions of the public prosecutor.

In court, the defendant had defended himself from being a leading recruiter. However, he had acknowledged that he could have "indirectly" encouraged departures through his propaganda videos and have "facilitated" many trips to Syria, a country he joined in July 2013, after a car journey across Europe.

According to 7sur7.be, the prosecution representative had called for the sanctioning of his "decisive" role in the indoctrination of many young, even very young, people, and had criticized the accused for the lack of "real repentance".

Unexpectedly, the defendant, who had remained impassive in the dock when the verdict was announced, had finally expressed his "regrets" on Friday, "for the first time" since his incarceration in France in September 2014. For her part, the magistrate considered that Mourad Farès had a greater responsibility than the one he agreed to take on.