As is customary, the Paris special criminal court's presiding judge, Laurent Raviot, gave the defendants the floor, letting them speak one last time on Friday morning, March 21, before the magistrates retired for deliberations on their judgement. Two of them, Frenchman Abdelmalek Tanem and Syrian defendant Kais Al Abdallah, took the opportunity to once again proclaim their innocence, saying they were not involved in the abduction and kidnapping of several Western hostages, who were detained in Syria by the Islamic State (IS) group between 2012 and 2014.

After over 10 hours of deliberation, they were sentenced to 22 years and 20 years in prison, respectively, with minimum time to be served equal to two-thirds of their sentences. Tanem was found guilty of "sequestration in connection with a terrorist undertaking," while Al Abdallah was convicted of "terrorist criminal conspiracy." Two other defendants, who were presumed dead and tried in absentia, Belgian defendant Oussama Atar and Frenchman Salim Benghalem, were given life sentences for their management role in the detention of the hostages, and, for Benghalem, also for "acts of torture."

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