10 Convicted in France Bomb Plot
A French court convicted 10 Islamic militants Thursday of plotting to blow up a crowded market on New Year’s Eve 2000.
The suspects -- Algerian nationals and French citizens of Algerian origin -- were sentenced to prison terms ranging from one to 10 years for their roles in the foiled attempt to strike the market in the eastern city of Strasbourg.
They were convicted of criminal association with a terrorist enterprise that state prosecutor Christophe Tessier alleged had links to Islamic networks in Britain, Italy and Spain.
Cooperation between French and German police led to the arrest in late 2000 of a Frankfurt-based group of Algerians who allegedly planned to attack the market. The bombing “was avoided by a hair,” Tessier said last month.
Strasbourg’s well-known market is set up around the city’s cathedral during the Christmas period and becomes a major gathering place.
France opened an investigation after four suspected Islamic radicals were arrested in Germany in possession of a map of Strasbourg and a videocassette showing the market. The four were convicted in Germany in 2003 and received prison terms ranging from 10 to 12 years.
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