France convicts Muslims linked to bomb plotters

A French court yesterday convicted eight suspected Islamist radicals of having links to plotters behind deadly suicide bombings in Casablanca four years ago. The accused, who are of Turkish, Moroccan and French nationality, were found guilty of associating with criminals engaged in a terrorist undertaking and handed sentences ranging from a year's suspended jail sentence to 10 years in prison.

The men were suspected of belonging to a France-based cell of the Moroccan Islamic Combatant Group, which carried out the May 16, 2003, attacks in the Moroccan city of Casablanca in which 45 people were killed. Prosecutors said the accused raised money, provided housing and forged documents for the group and met some of the suicide bombers who perished in the attacks.