PARIS (AP) - A Paris court sentenced five Islamic militants Tuesday to jail terms for associating with "a terrorist enterprise," with some of the five convicted of helping the assassins of an anti-Taliban commander in Afghanistan. The five were sentenced to terms ranging from two to seven years. Those defendants included some convicted of providing logistical support to the killers of Ahmed Shah Massood, who was assassinated in 2001.
Massood, known as "The Lion of Panjshir," was fabled for his defiance of occupying Soviet forces during the Afghan war in the 1980s and later the Taliban. He was killed by suspected al-Qaida suicide attackers posing as journalists two days before the Sept. 11 attacks in the United States. Two other defendants were acquitted.
All seven defendants faced allegations of "criminal association in relation to a terrorist enterprise" - a broad charge widely used in terrorism cases in France. They faced a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison each.
| Sigh, at least they'll be off the street for a couple of years |