7 insurgent recruiters sentenced in France

PARIS, May 14 (UPI) -- Seven men convicted of creating a network to recruit Muslim jihadists to fight in Iraq were sentenced to prison in France Wednesday.

The Paris court imposed sentences ranging from 18 months to seven years in jail, Voice of America reported. The defendants included five French citizens, one Algerian and one Moroccan who were charged with setting up the recruitment network in Paris in 2004, VOA said.

French terrorism expert Roland Jaquard estimates about 60 French Muslims have left for Iraq to join the insurgency in recent years.