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Farouk Ben Abbes, a radical Islam figure, was sentenced Friday to four years in prison for his activity on Ansar Al-Haqq, which was the reference jihadist francophone site in the late 2000s and a vector "Incitement" to jihad
This is the first time that the 32-year-old Belgian-Tunisian, cited in several anti-terrorist cases without being prosecuted, has been convicted in such a case.
Also sentenced to definitive ban on French territory, Farouk Ben Abbes left the court free: he will be summoned later to serve these four years in prison. The sentence, which may be appealed, will not be enforced until it is final, his lawyers said.
The prosecutor asked for six years in jail with immediate incarceration
Farouk Ben Abbes was convicted of the crime of criminal conspiracy, along with three other men between the ages of 32 and 35, like former administrators of the site.
Now closed, Ansar Al-Haqq, whose name means "supporters of the truth", was a reference of the French-language web jihadist at a time when the armed jihad was conducted in particular in Afghanistan or Pakistan.
While the defense maintained that the site was not than the "apology for terrorism" – a crime that would be prescribed today – the criminal court ruled that it was an badociation of criminals, the site having "incited" jihad, with " a vocation of recruitment "for the armed struggle "in the line of what al-Qaeda was looking for, to lead the" media jihad + ".
If the facts are old," the decline that is ours today "makes it possible to measure" what was the 'influence and importance of a site like Ansar Al-Haqq', said the president
The two other defendants present in court, Nordine Z., who had made available the encryption software "Mujahideen Secret" ", and David R., who helped create the site, were sentenced to four and three years in prison, respectively. The prosecution had asked for five years and their immediate imprisonment.
The fourth defendant, Leonard Lopez, left in 2015 for jihad and who would be in the hands of the Kurds of Syria, was sentenced to five years with a mandate of stop.
– "Tartufferie" –
Press releases, claims of attacks, encryption software … More than just a propaganda site, Ansar Al-Haqq was "a tool made available to organizations terrorists to recruit, even to communicate, "said the prosecutor.
Simple member and administrator while he was clandestinely in the Gaza Strip between 2008 and 2009, Farouk Ben Abbes had posted hundreds of messages, translations of press releases or a summary of a book entitled "39 ways to serve and participate in jihad"
A slogan, "Media jihad is half the fight", accompanied each of his messages.
of an "ability to influence", Be Abbes is particularly "the one who nearly gave Ansar Al-Haqq an international scale" in trying to tie it to the Global Islamist Media Front (GIMF), affiliated with Al Qaeda, said the prosecutor.
Farouk Ben Abbes had denied any recruitment for jihad Thursday and badured his co-defendants have disseminated this propaganda only to "inform". "A real tartufferie" in the eyes of the prosecutor.
The founder of the forum, the French Marion Tailleumier, had been sentenced last year on appeal to six years in prison.
The defense lawyers had pleaded the release of their clients, denouncing a justice made too late, in a context of increased severity in the face of recent jihadist attacks, and prosecutions for terrorist conspiracy without any "material" element to support them.
"We escape the worst, but on the merits this is absolutely not satisfactory, "reacted one of Farouk Ben Abbes' lawyers, William Bourdon. According to his colleague Vincent Brengarth, Ben Abbes "has no connection with this radical Islamist movement".
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