Lawyers for Willie Brigitte are considering an appeal against the nine-year sentence imposed by a Paris court today on the French terrorist who plotted an attack in Australia. Brigitte, 38, received just under the maximum 10-year sentence applicable for the crime of criminal association with a view to committing a terrorist act - chiefly related to his activities in Sydney in 2003. The non-parole period is six years, but with Brigitte having already served three-and-a-half years awaiting trial and sentence, the former Sydney kebab shop worker could be freed in late 2009 if he serves the minimum non-parole term.After the sentence was handed down in the criminal court at the Palais de Justice, Brigitte's lawyer Harry Durimel described the case against his client as a "witch hunt", saying: "I think we must appeal".
"Our client committed a thought crime. All he did was convert to another religion," said Mr Durimel. "Along the initiation journey that he took, he met with all kind of people, he is being accused of having met people that he should not have met. There is no formal proof, it is surrealistic, it is a witch hunt. There were holes in the case. The court did not recognise them."