Terrorism trial of French IS fighter begins

The trial has begun in Paris of a frenchman accused of terrorist offences in Syria. His wife and mother are also accused of terrorist offences.

Jonathan Geffroy is standing trial in the prisoner's box at the Paris Special Criminal Court. His wife, Latifa Chadli, and his mother will sit in the open court, under judicial control.

Geffroy and Chadli arrived in Syria in 2015, with their two-month-old child. They were arrested by members of the Free Syrian Army in 2017 and handed over to the French authorities.

The child, who is now eight years old is a civil plaintiff in the case and will be represented by a victim's support organisation.

Geffroy is originally from Toulouse and converted to Islam in 2007. He met and married Chadli in Morocco.

On arrival in Syria, Geffroy was assigned to the Anwar al-Awlaki fighting brigade. The brigade was mostly French speaking. Brothers Jean-Michel and Fabien Clain were also members of the group. The brothers were sentenced to life in prison for their role in planning and promoting the 2015 Paris attacks.

Geffroy fought under Abdelilah Himich, another French leader who has helped plan the Bataclan attack.

Geffroy contacted French anti-terrorist police from Syria in November 2016, saying he wanted to escape with his family.

Since then, he has provided information to French investigators, including on plans for an attack on a nuclear reactor and names of French nationals who had joined IS.

The trial is set to end on 23 January. If found guilty, Geffroy and Chadli face a thirty-year sentence.

Geffroy's mother faces a ten-year sentence for sending him thousands of euros whilst he was in Syria.

Image by Sang Hyun Cho from Pixabay