France tries suspected IS militants over kidnapping of four journalists in Syria

Mehdi Nemmouche, a 39-year-old man, is serving a life sentence for his involvement in the attack on a Jewish museum in Brussels. He has recently denied being the captor of two French journalists, Didier Francois and Edouard Elias, and two others, Nicolas Henin and Pierre Torres, who were abducted in northern Syria in June 2013. The abduction occurred during the early days of the Syrian civil war, which led to the emergence of the Islamic State (IS) group in 2013. IS declared a caliphate in large parts of Syria and Iraq, gaining ground in the chaotic aftermath of the war.