A French court on Monday sentenced seven Afghans and two Iraqi Kurds to seven to eight years in jail over the fatal capsizing of a boat carrying would-be asylum seekers from France to England in 2022.
France and Britain have vowed to crack down on people smugglers who heap migrants on flimsy dinghies to make the dangerous Channel crossing in exchange for thousands of dollars.
In the latest such case to go to court in France, a small boat departed France early on December 14, 2022, carrying people from Afghanistan, Albania, India and Senegal.
Four people died and four went missing after the dinghy burst a few kilometres (miles) from the English coast.
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A court in the French city of Lille sentenced three men to eight years behind bars.
They included an Afghan being tried in absentia and thought to be the mastermind of the smuggling operation.
It handed the rest seven-year sentences over the disaster.
They included two Afghan brothers accused of financing the operation and another Afghan who admitted to summoning passengers for the crossing, although he claimed he did it after being threatened.
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A tenth man, who is being held in Belgium, is to be tried at a later date.
A British court has already sentenced a Senegalese minor who steered the boat to nine years in jail, French prosecutors said.
During the trial earlier this month, the prosecutor said the dinghy involved in the accident had been “completely unsuitable for navigation on high seas”.
She said the defendants had been benefitting from a “highly lucrative” illegal trade, with migrants paying on average 3,500 euros ($4,000) for the crossing.
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