French Militant to Be Retried as Prosecutors Seek Life Term

The court found that Vilus supervised executions in Syria as a senior figure in the ISIS extremist group | AFP
The court found that Vilus supervised executions in Syria as a senior figure in the ISIS extremist group | AFP
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French Militant to Be Retried as Prosecutors Seek Life Term

The court found that Vilus supervised executions in Syria as a senior figure in the ISIS extremist group | AFP
The court found that Vilus supervised executions in Syria as a senior figure in the ISIS extremist group | AFP

A French militant given a 30-year jail term last week for crimes committed in Syria, will be retried after prosecutors appealed Thursday seeking life imprisonment.

On Friday, a court jailed Vilus, 30, for crimes committed between 2013 and 2015 when he was a senior figure in the ISIS extremist group, including overseeing the execution of two prisoners.

Vilus was found guilty of all the charges against him, including membership of a terror organization, heading a group of ISIS fighters, and "aggravated murder".

The judges handed down a 30-year prison term, of which Vilus would have to serve at least two-thirds, or 20 years, before parole can be considered.

France's National Anti-Terror Prosecutor's office had sought a life sentence, with a minimum 22 years to be served, and said Thursday it had filed an appeal against the ruling.

The appeal automatically gives rise to a retrial in front of a court that will be specially constituted as this concerns a terror case.

At the original trial, public prosecutor Guillaume Michelin sought the highest sentence arguing Vilus "hasn't changed one bit" since his time with ISIS.

"All the steps in the accused's journey are interlocked with the construction of the caliphate," said the prosecutor, referring to the militant-ruled area that ISIS had carved out in Syria and Iraq.

"It is your responsibility to put a definite end to the bloodshed," he told the court at the time.

But the presiding judge said he wanted to leave the convicted man with "a glimmer of hope" and an opportunity to "evolve".

The trial court found that Vilus had supervised executions as a member of the religious police in the north-eastern Syrian town Ash Shaddadi, close to the Iraqi border.

In a 2015 video released by ISIS' media department, a man alleged to be Vilus is two meters away as two kneeling and blindfolded prisoners -- one belonging to the Free Syrian Army rebel fighters and the other a member of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's army -- are executed with a bullet to the head.

His arrest and trial were seen as a major coup for the French security services, as Vilus is believed to have known many French militants in Syria.

Vilus had admitted to being in contact with Abdelhamid Abaaoud -- the man French secret services believe is the mastermind of the November 2015 terror attacks in Paris.



A Massive Explosion and Fire Strikes Iranian Port and Injures Hundreds

This image grab taken from footage released by the state television of IRIBNEWS on April 26, 2025 shows people walking away as smoke billows following an explosion at the Shahid Rajaee port dock southwest of Bandar Abbas in the Iranian province of Hormozgan. (Photo by IRIBNEWS / AFP)
This image grab taken from footage released by the state television of IRIBNEWS on April 26, 2025 shows people walking away as smoke billows following an explosion at the Shahid Rajaee port dock southwest of Bandar Abbas in the Iranian province of Hormozgan. (Photo by IRIBNEWS / AFP)
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A Massive Explosion and Fire Strikes Iranian Port and Injures Hundreds

This image grab taken from footage released by the state television of IRIBNEWS on April 26, 2025 shows people walking away as smoke billows following an explosion at the Shahid Rajaee port dock southwest of Bandar Abbas in the Iranian province of Hormozgan. (Photo by IRIBNEWS / AFP)
This image grab taken from footage released by the state television of IRIBNEWS on April 26, 2025 shows people walking away as smoke billows following an explosion at the Shahid Rajaee port dock southwest of Bandar Abbas in the Iranian province of Hormozgan. (Photo by IRIBNEWS / AFP)

The number of injured from an explosion Saturday at a port in southern Iran jumped to 281, the state-run IRNA news agency reported.
IRNA quoted Mojtaba Khaledi, the spokesman of Iran’s National Emergency Organization, as giving the figure.
The blast happened at the Rajaei port just outside of Bandar Abbas, a major facility for container shipments for Iran that handles some 80 million tons (72.5 million metric tons) of goods a year.
Social media videos showed black billowing smoke after the blast. Others showed glass blown out of buildings kilometers (miles) away from the epicenter of the explosion, The Associated Press said.
Authorities have offered no cause for the explosion yet. Industrial accidents happen in Iran, particularly at its aging oil facilities that struggle for access to parts under international sanctions. But Iranian state TV specifically ruled out any energy infrastructure as causing or being damaged in the blast.
Mehrdad Hasanzadeh, a provincial disaster management official, told Iranian state TV that first responders were trying to reach the area while others were attempting to evacuate the site.
Hasanzadeh said the blast came from containers at Rajaei port in the city, without elaborating. State TV also reported there had been a building collapse caused by the explosion, though there were no immediate other details offered.
Rajaei port is some 1,050 kilometers (652 miles) southeast of Iran's capital, Tehran, on the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf through which 20% of all oil traded passes.
The blast happened as Iran and the United States met Saturday in Oman for the third round of negotiations over Tehran's rapidly advancing nuclear program.