Two radical Islamic terrorist women who plotted to attack the Notre Dame cathedral in Paris by blowing up a car filled with gas canisters have been given 25 and 30-year sentences.
Ornella Gilligmann and Ines Madani had plotted to blow up a car filled with gas canisters in September of 2016 and were recently found guilty of attempting a terrorist attack, with Ms Gilligmann allegedly bursting into tears as the verdict was read in court, 20 Minutes reports.
Both women are said to have been highly influenced by Islamic State propagandist Rachid Kassim, a man suspected of having encouraged several Islamist attacks in France before he was killed by a U.S. drone strike in February of 2017.
Madani and Gilligmann had attempted to blow up their car in front of several restaurants near Notre Dame but ultimately failed due to their choice of diesel fuel which proved impossible to ignite.
The two young women then hid in an apartment in Boussy-Saint-Antoine following the failed attack under the orders of Kassim and were joined by Sarah Hervouët, who stabbed a member of France’s General Directorate for Internal Security (DGSI), when officers raided the apartment containing her and Ms Madani.
Ms Hervouët was also sentenced to 20 years in prison for attacking the DGSI officer and for involvement in the terrorist cell.
“I had the worst behaviour,” Madani told the court and added, “I only had plans of death back then. Today, I have plans for life.
“I apologize and I will apologize all my life to all those who have been victims of terrorism,” Gilligmann told the court.
The case has been just one of the many attempted terror attacks in France since the Bataclan massacre in November of 2015.
Earlier this year in May, French police claimed to have thwarted at least five major attacks in only four months, including a plot by two jihadists to lay siege to a kindergarten full of children.