Paris: A Paris court Thursday sentenced a French national to seven years in jail on charges of joining fighters in Syria in 2012.
Flavien Moreau was arrested in January 2013 after his return from Syria where he had joined insurgents to combat the Syrian army, Xinhua reported.
Before converting to Islam and becoming radicalised, the 27-year-old man was convicted several times for violent robbery and assault.
Fearing hundreds of French nationals could return home to carry out attacks after being trained in Syria, the government reinforced measures to crack down on radicalised men and stem the flow of youth recruited to fight in Syria.
The Socialist government’s anti-jihad bill allows authorities to ban French nationals suspected of having ties with a Islamic extremists’ cells from leaving the country for an indefinite period.