A Milan court on Tuesday
sentenced Abderrahim Moutaharrik, a Moroccan competitive
kickboxer who was jailed in April over accusations he is linked
to ISIS, to six years in jail.
The court also sentenced Moutaharrik's wife, Salma Bencharki,
to five years in jail and suspended the couple's custody of
their two children.
Two other people, Abderrahmane Khachia and Wafa Koraichi,
were also convicted and sentenced to jail terms of six years and
of three years, four months, respectively.
Khachia, also Moroccan and resident in Varese, is the brother
of Oussama Khachia, who was expelled from Italy in January 2015
for ISIS propaganda and died later that year in Syria.
Koraichi, who will serve out her sentence on house arrest, is
the sister of Mohammed Koraichi, a Moroccan who left the town of
Bulciago with his Italian wife Alice Brignoli and their three
children to join ISIS forces.
The 28-year-old Moutaharrik and his wife were arrested in
April 2016 prior to carrying out what investigators said were
their plans to leave for Syria with their two children, ages 2
and 4, to join ISIS.
Investigators said Moutaharrik was heard in wiretapped
conversations claiming that he would be the first to attack the
Vatican.
His attorney Sandro Clementi on Tuesday told journalists that
Moutaharrik never made that claim and announced his intention to
appeal the sentence.
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