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The Crown is seeking a nine-year prison sentence for a man convicted of attempting to leave Canada to join the Islamic State.

The defence has countered with a recommendation of six-and-a-half years for Ismael Habib.

Habib, 29, has also been found guilty of giving false information to obtain a passport.

Both sides made sentencing arguments on Thursday before Quebec court Judge Serge Delisle.

In arguing for a nine-year prison term, prosecutor Lyne Decarie noted there was premeditation on Habib's part, while defence attorney Charles Montpetit suggested six-and-a-half years minus the nearly 27 months Habib has served in pre-trial custody.

Habib is the first adult in Canada to be convicted after going to trial on the charge of attempting to leave Canada to join the Islamic State.

There are two other cases involving the charge – one of an Ontario man who pleaded guilty and another of a Montreal teen convicted following a trial in youth court.

Habib was ensnared by an RCMP-led sting operation, in which he admitted to an undercover agent posing as a crime boss that he wanted to travel to Syria to join the Islamic State.

He argued he simply had been trying to reunite with his family in Daesh territory.

The judge is expected to render a decision at the end of September.

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