Lead
A French court on Monday convicted the cement manufacturer Lafarge of financing terrorism, ruling that the company paid millions of euros to the Islamic State group and other jihadist organizations to keep its plant in northern Syria operational during the country's civil war. The Paris court fined Lafarge €1.125 million ($1.3 million) and sentenced its former CEO, Bruno Lafont, to six years in prison, according to AP and AFP reports carried by outlets including France 24 and RFI.The judgment, delivered by presiding judge Isabelle Prevost-Desprez, found that Lafarge made payments totaling nearly €5.6 million — or $6.53 million, as another report put it — to groups including IS and the al Qaeda-affiliated Nusra Front between 2013 and September 2014. The court described these payments as a "genuine commercial partnership" with IS, a characterization reported by The Guardian and RFI.
This is the first time a company has been tried in France for financing terrorism, as noted by multiple sources including The Guardian and the Jerusalem Post.
Coverage comparison
Reporting on the verdict was broadly consistent across the five outlets reviewed, though each emphasized different aspects of the case. France 24 and RFI, both French public broadcasters, focused on the conviction and the payments to jihadist groups, framing the decision as a warning about corporate complicity with terrorism. The Guardian highlighted the fines and sentences, while also detailing the broader context, including a prior U.S. settlement. The Jerusalem Post, drawing on Reuters, provided the most detailed financial breakdown and noted that Lafarge became part of the Swiss conglomerate Holcim in 2015.All sources agreed on the core facts: the conviction, the fine, the prison sentence for Lafont, and the payments to groups designated as terrorist entities by the European Union. The Guardian and RFI both quoted the judge's statement that the payments "were essential in enabling the terrorist organisations to gain control of Syria's natural resources." The Jerusalem Post, via Reuters, quoted a slightly different passage from the same judge, emphasizing that the payments enabled Lafarge to continue operations. No direct contradictions emerged across the coverage.
Key Claims
- Lafarge was found guilty by a Paris court of financing terrorism, a first for a company in France, as reported by France 24, The Guardian, and RFI.
- The company under its subsidiary Lafarge Cement Syria (LCS) paid nearly €5.6 million between 2013 and 2014 to the Islamic State group and the Nusra Front, among others, to keep its Jalabiya plant in northern Syria running, according to The Guardian and RFI.
- The Jerusalem Post, citing Reuters, reported the payments totaled $6.53 million over the same period.
- Former CEO Bruno Lafont was sentenced to six years in prison for financing terrorism, with a judge ordering the sentence to begin immediately. His lawyer has said he will appeal, as The Guardian reported.
- Lafarge was fined €1.125 million, a figure consistent across The Guardian, RFI, and the Jerusalem Post.
- Lafarge's factory in Jalabiya began operations in 2010, just before Syria's civil war erupted, per The Guardian and RFI.
- In 2022, Lafarge admitted in a U.S. court that its Syrian subsidiary paid about $6 million to IS and the Nusra Front, and agreed to pay a $778 million fine, as The Guardian noted.
- The presiding judge stated that the payments enabled terrorist organizations to control Syria's natural resources and finance attacks in the region and abroad, including in Europe, as quoted by France 24, The Guardian, and RFI.