France court jails migrant smugglers over 2022 Channel deaths

A French court on Monday sentenced seven Afghans and two Iraqi Kurds to seven to eight years in jail over the fatal capsizing of a boat carrying would-be asylum seekers from France to England in 2022.

France and Britain have vowed to crack down on people smugglers who heap migrants on flimsy dinghies to make the dangerous Channel crossing in exchange for thousands of dollars.

In the latest such case to go to court in France, a small boat departed France early on December 14, 2022, carrying…