Prosecutors demanded a life sentence on Wednesday, March 18, for a French jihadist on trial charged with holding journalists hostage in Syria for the Islamic State (IS) group. Prosecutor Benjamin Chambre called Mehdi Nemmouche, 39, "one of the most perverse and cruel jihadists of the past 10 years" with a "total absence of empathy and remorse."

He and the prosecution team demanded a life sentence with a minimum 22 years without parole, during an eight-hour hearing in a Paris court.

Nemmouche has claimed he was merely a "fighter" for IS and not a "jailer."

Dressed in a grey sweater, he listened to the proceedings calmly leaning on the edge of the dock.

Nemmouche is already serving life in jail for a deadly attack in Brussels in May 2014 after returning from Syria.

Four journalists have identified him as one of their captors in Syria from June 2013 to April 2014, during which time detainees suffered torture and mock executions.

French prosecutors said IS held 25 Western journalists and aid workers hostage in Syria, publicly executing several of them.