![In this file photo taken June 6th, 2017, French police gather at a cordoned-off area at Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris, as a French police officer shot and injured a man who attacked him with a hammer outside the cathedral. ISIS devotee Farid Ikken was on October 14th handed a 28-years prison sentence for the crime. [Martin Bureau/AFP]](/cnmi_di/images/2020/10/14/26550-French-police-Paris-700_496.webp)
A follower of the "Islamic State of Iraq and Syria" (ISIS) who attacked a police officer outside Notre-Dame cathedral in Paris with a hammer was sentenced to 28 years in jail on Wednesday (October 14th).
Farid Ikken, 43, charged at officers on patrol outside the cathedral on June 6th, 2017, shouting "this is for Syria".
He struck one in the head with a hammer but the officer, who ducked, was only slightly hurt and opened fire on him, injuring Ikken in the chest.
France has been targeted in a string of extremist attacks since 2015 that have claimed over 240 lives, including several security forces members.
Ikken, an Algerian national and former journalist who spent several years in Sweden before moving to France in 2014 for his studies, denied any intention to kill the officers.
He told the court he wanted to carry out an act of "symbolic violence" to avenge France's participation in airstrikes against ISIS in the Syrian city of al-Raqa and Iraqi city of Mosul.
The 28-year sentence was the maximum sought by the prosecution. He was also barred from French territory for life.
