Brussels Court Sentences 30 ISIL Recruiters to Terms Up to 20 Years

BRUSSELS (Sputnik) — A Brussels court has sentenced 30 people convicted of recruiting militants for ISIL jihadist group to jail terms ranging from 10 months to 20 years, local media reported on Wednesday.

According to the ruling, the convicted were members of a terrorist cell, operating in the Belgian town of Verviers, from where they sent would-be militants to Syria, the Belgian newspaper Le Soir reported.

During the trial, which began in May, only half of the suspects were present as the others were allegedly fighting in Syria. The investigation did not rule out the possibility that some of the defendants may already have been killed.

One of those convicted in absentia, Abdelhamid Abaaoud, was a key figure in the trial, as he was prosecuted for founding the terror cell and plotting terrorist attacks in Belgium. He was sentenced to 20 years in prison.

IS is a Sunni militant group in control of large areas of Syria and Iraq. The group is notorious for its brutality and many human rights violations, as well as for recruiting young people from all over the world via social network sites.

According to various sources, up to 400 Belgian citizens have joined extremist groups in the Middle East.