A Belgian court Wednesday sentenced the leader of a religious group to 12 years in jail for recruiting fighters to join the jihad in Syria, media reported.
Fouad Belkacem, 32, chief of the Sharia4Belgium group, was convicted by a court in Antwerp for radicalising, recruiting and dispatching young men to Syria, Al Jazeera reported.
The court jailed many other members of the group as well.
Forty-six members of the group originally faced charges, but only eight were actually present during the five-month trial, with one deemed medically unfit to stand trial, the report said.
The rest were believed to be either still in Syria, or dead.
"Around 350 fighters (from Belgium) were estimated to be in Syria to fight, highest number per capita in Europe," Al Jazeera's Simon McGregor-Wood said, reporting from Antwerp.
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