A French-origin al-Qaida member who was sought by Interpol with a red notice and was caught in southern Hatay province trying to enter Turkey illegally has been sentenced to imprisonment for being a member of an armed terrorist group Thursday.

The 28-year-old terrorist identified by the initials C.G. participated in the hearing at the Hatay 3rd Criminal Court through the Audio and Visual Information Services (SEGBIS) from the prison.

C.G. during the hearing stated that he was a painter in France and came to Syria around four years ago.

Claiming that he went to Syria for humanitarian reasons, C.G. said: "I learned that I was told a lie when I came to Syria. The situation was different than I had envisaged. Our group acted independently though it seemed as if it was al-Qaida. I took duty in border security, had a gun and got monthly 15,000 Syrian pounds ($12)."

He stated further that he got injured three months after arriving in Syria and then tried to escape the country for 3.5 years.

C.G. stressed that he had no connections with any terrorist activities in France and wished to return to his country.

The court ruled that the initial six years and three months prison sentence for the defendant be decreased to three years, one month and 15 days due to penitence.

Turkey has been carrying out extensive anti-terror operations at home and abroad to capture terrorists.

Al-Qaida-linked groups are active in Syria where the ongoing civil war led to the rise of Daesh, another terrorist group with a similar ideology.