PARIS, France (AFP): A Paris court Thursday sentenced Guadeloupe-born French national Willie Brigitte to nine years in jail for conspiring with Pakistani extremists to plot terrorist attacks in Australia.
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| Willie Brigitte. AFP PHOTO |
Brigitte, 38, showed no emotion as the verdict was read out in the Paris criminal court.
A state prosecutor had requested the maximum sentence of 10 years imprisonment at the end of a three-day trial held last month, arguing that Brigitte played a major role in the alleged attack plan.
Deported from Australia in 2003, Brigitte was convicted on charges of "criminal conspiracy in relation with a terrorist enterprise."
After converting to Islam in 1998, he veered into radicalism, running paramilitary camps in France to toughen up Islamist fighters, and undergoing weapons training in Pakistan, according to the prosecution.
In May 2003 he travelled to Australia on the orders of the Pakistani extremist group Lashkar e-Taiba to join a terror cell run by Faheem Khalid Lodhi, a Pakistani-born radical who was jailed for 20 years in 2006 for the alleged attack plot, the prosecution said.
The court heard evidence of a web of connections linking Brigitte to Lashkar e-Taiba operatives in Australia, Britain and the United States.
At the time of his arrest Brigitte was in possession of a link to a website describing sensitive sites including a Sydney nuclear plant, the city's power grid and military installations around the country -- all cited by the prosecution as potential targets.
Brigitte's lawyer Jean-Claude Durimel told reporters following the verdict that he was considering an appeal but needed to discuss a possible challenge with his client. Under French law, he has 10 days to appeal.
"The sentence is grotesque," said lawyer Harry Durimel, who also represented Brigitte. "This is a pure witchhunt. No formal proof has been provided of Willie Brigitte's involvement in anything whatsoever."
The lawyers took issue with the court's decision to impose no possibility of parole for Brigitte for six
ears, saying it was unnecessarily harsh, given that he held no previous criminal record.
"Where is the proof that Willie Brigitte is dangerous?" asked Harry Durimel.
Born in the French Caribbean island of Guadeloupe, Brigitte has been in detention since 2003. He refused to speak throughout his trial, saying he had "lost all hope of being understood."
Defence lawyers had called for his acquittal, saying Brigitte's statements to French police were obtained under pressure and that the prosecution's case was riddled with inaccuracies. | 
