A French court has convicted seven men accused of recruiting young Muslims in Paris to fight against America-led forces in Iraq

The sentences ranged from 18 months in prison to seven years in prison, with the cell's ringleader being jailed for six years. The men were tracked down and arrested after a young Frenchman was found dead in the Iraqi city of Falluja in 2004. They were arrested in 2005, suspected of being part of an Islamist cell recruiting volunteers to join the Iraqi insurgency. One of the group's ringleaders, Farid Benyettou, 27, was sentenced to six years in jail. Boubakeur el-Hakim, 24, whose brother was killed in Iraq and himself fought in the country, was said to have incited friends from France to join him in suicide missions in Baghdad. He was given seven years.