French jihadist who spent 'dozen days' in Syria jailed for seven years

The first French jihadist to stand trial after returning from Syria, where his nicotine cravings got the better of him, was sentenced to seven years in jail Thursday. Flavien Moreau travelled to the conflict-ridden country at the end of 2012 but says he only managed to stay "a dozen days" as he was unable to stand a strict ban on smoking imposed by the Islamist militants he was with.
On his return, he was placed under surveillance by French anti-terrorist authorities who eventually detained him in January 2013 after hearing him say he was looking for fake ID to go back to Syria. The 28-year-old, who is of South Korean origin and was adopted at an early age by a French family, turned to crime as a teenager and spent time in and out of jail after being sentenced 13 times for offences such as armed robbery. He converted to Islam after getting out of prison, quickly became radicalised, went to study Arabic in Egypt and eventually decided to go to wage jihad in Syria.