(AFP) A French court on Monday sentenced an imam from northern France to two years in prison for helping migrants try to cross the English Channel in inflatable boats.
The 39-year-old preacher, who is of Iranian origin and was granted political asylum in France, is accused of organising several crossings from northern France to England since last December.
A 29-year-old Senegalese man who attends the mosque in Rouen where the imam preaches also stood trial. He got nine months in jail and was banned from visiting the northern French regions of Nord and Pas-de-Calais for three years.
The imam fainted upon hearing his sentence.
The men admitted providing six or seven dinghies after they were taken into custody in April, the French newspaper Le Figaro reported on Monday.
