Four convicted in Islamic State killing of French priest

Four men were convicted in Paris of terrorist conspiracy after the murder of a Catholic priest in a Normandy church in 2016, an attack claimed by the Islamic State group.

The four were handed sentences of between eight years and life in prison over the attack on Father Jacques Hamel, 85. Fr Hamel was stabbed in his church in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray by two 19-year-olds as he finished Mass. Two nuns and an elderly couple were held hostage before the assailants slashed the priest’s throat and seriously injured another elderly churchgoer.

The two attackers, Abdel Malik Petitjean and Adel Kermiche, were killed by police as they left the church. The four men on trial were accused of having helped or encouraged the attack.

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