Editing Strasbourg Cathedral bombing plot (section)

==Trials and convictions==
In March 2003, the four suspects in Frankfurt, Aeurobui Beandali, Salim Boukhari, Fouhad Sabour and Lamine Maroni were sentenced to between 10 and 12 years' imprisonment.<ref name="PBS"/><ref name="Irish">{{Cite news|title=Four jailed over plot to bomb Strasbourg|url=https://www.irishtimes.com/news/four-jailed-over-plot-to-bomb-strasbourg-1.351691|work=The Irish Times/Reuters|date=11 March 2003}}</ref> According to the Frankfurt court, the group had planned to blow up pressure cookers packed with explosives, as they had learned in training camps in Afghanistan.<ref name="BBC"/><ref name="CBS161204">{{Cite news|title=France Convicts Islamic Militants|url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/france-convicts-islamic-militants/|work=CBS|date=16 December 2004}}</ref> The target was reported to have been the Christmas market at the Strasbourg Cathedral on New Year's Eve.<ref name="WashingtonPost"/><ref name="Guardian"/> The target was said to have been chosen deliberately for its Christian symbolism.<ref name="Irish"/> Beandali was the only to confess to the plot, while Boukhari and Sabour claimed to have planned to attack an empty synagogue in Strasbourg.<ref name="Guardian"/>

In December 2004, ten suspects were put on trial in [[Paris]], accused of being members of the Frankfurt group.<ref>{{Cite news|title=Ten on trial in France over bomb plot charge|url=https://www.irishtimes.com/news/ten-on-trial-in-france-over-bomb-plot-charge-1.991818|work=The Irish Times/AP|date=6 October 2004}}</ref> The suspects, all Algerian or French-Algerian, were sentenced to terms of up to 10 years, convicted for "criminal association with a terrorist enterprise" with alleged connections to terrorist networks in the United Kingdom, Italy and Spain.<ref name="BBC"/><ref name="CBS161204"/> The group's alleged leaders, Mohammed Bensakhria (a.k.a. Meliani, considered one of Osama bin Laden's "lieutenants" in Europe), 37, and [[Slimane Khalfaoui]], 29, were given 10 years, and [[Yacine Akhnouche]], 30, was given eight.<ref name="BBC"/><ref name="CBS161204"/> Bensakhria, the suspected ringleader, was thought to have fled Germany as he was arrested in Spain in 2001 and subsequently extradited to France.<ref name="Guardian"/> [[Rabah Kadre]], 37, who was in detention in the United Kingdom was given six years, and was [[persona non grata|banned]] from entering French territory.<ref name="BBC"/><ref name="CBS161204"/> The six other suspects, who received lesser terms, were convicted for giving logistical support to the plot by providing false documents to other group members.<ref name="BBC"/><ref name="CBS161204"/>