The first trial of French citizens accused of trying to join the rebellion in Syria concluded Friday after lawyers for the government and the defendants presented their arguments in a Paris courtroom.
The judge in the trial, which began Thursday, said he would render a verdict and sentence the men on March 7.
The three men — Youssef Ettaoujar, 26; Fares Farsi, 21; and Salah-Eddine Gourmat, 24 — were indicted under a law enacted in 2012 that makes it a crime to have the intent to prepare terrorist acts. All three are Muslims; Mr. Farsi and Mr. Gourmat carried Algerian passports as well as French passports, while Mr. Ettaoujar carried French and Moroccan passports.
All worked in low-paying jobs and live in working-class neighborhoods of Paris or its suburbs.
They were apprehended at the airport in St. Étienne in central France in May 2012 as they were boarding a flight to Gaziantep in Turkey, a border city 60 miles from Syria’s largest city, Aleppo.
One of the suspects said they were inspired by a radical Islamist of Senegalese origin, whom they met through Facebook and later in person in Nice, France.
The police said they found holsters, bulletproof vests, night-vision goggles and cash in the men’s luggage when they were picked up in St. Étienne. Photos of Osama bin Laden and flags of Al Qaeda were in their homes.
Mr. Ettaoujar is currently in detention because he had previously gone to Mali and was alleged to have tried to participate in terrorist acts there as well. Prosecutors said they worried that he might try to leave again unless he was detained. The other two defendants are free.
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