On Friday March 22, two former journalists from Mediapart and a former lawyer for jihadists were given suspended prison sentences of between 10 months and three years. They allegedly transferred money to members of the Islamic State to help them leave the “caliphate” and surrender, according to their arguments. The most severe sentence was given to the former lawyer, who was sentenced to three years’ probation. He had admitted to being involved in bribing an Iraqi army officer to try to save the life of jihadist Maximilien Thibaut. While the former lawyer admitted to the bribe, he denied the allegations of financing terrorism. Nevertheless, he and the two journalists have to pay a solidarity fine of 10,000 euros.
The latter two women, Edith Bouvier and Céline Martelet, were also sentenced to 10 and 12 months’ imprisonment with simple probation. They were accused of transferring money to pay traffickers to “smuggle” several women out of Syria and Iraq. The authors of a book about French women who joined Daesh are also alleged to have been involved in the rescue operation of Maximilien Thibaut. The former Mediapart journalists have admitted that they “overstepped” the scope of their role, but claim that they acted out of “humanity” to “save lives”. On Friday, they reiterated that they “never financed terrorism” and said they were “shocked by the severity of a judgement” that they consider unjust. According to their lawyer, Edith Bouvier and Céline Martelet will lodge an appeal.
