Switzerland has extradited to France a former member of the Armed Islamic Group of Algeria who was arrested last year after trying to seek asylum. 

The man, who had been under house arrest in the French town of Evron since December 2015, had previously been sentenced to 10 years in prison for having plotted an attack in Paris.  

He fled France and was arrested in September 2016 at the Vallorbe federal asylum centre after authorities recognised him from police reports. He had failed to show up for a daily check-in with French authorities, who then began to look for him. 

Authorities in Bern gave the green light for his extradition to France in December after he refused a simplified extradition procedure. The Federal Criminal Court denied a subsequent appeal, paving the way for the prisoner to be transferred to France. 

He was turned over to French authorities at the Thônex-Vallard border crossing near Geneva on Monday. 

The Armed Islamic Group of Algeria was one of two main Islamist insurgent groups that fought the Algerian government and army during the Algerian Civil War, which lasted from 1991 until 2002.