A 29 year-old man from Gatineau who was found guilty in June of trying to join a terrorist organization in the Middle East could face up to nine years in prison -- if the prosecution has its way.

Ismael Habib is one of the first Canadians to be found guilty of trying to leave Canada to join a terror organization.

Under the relatively new law, adopted during the rise of ISIS in 2013, he faces a maximum of ten years just for trying to join the extremist group.

During the trial, it was shown that Habib fell into a trap set by the RCMP, when agents passed themselves off as criminals willing to provide him with a fake passport and the means to reach the Middle East.

Habib made it clear to the RCMP undercover agents that his goal was to reach Syria, join ISIS, and to fight and possibly die for his cause.

In the courthouse Thursday, federal prosecutor Lyne Decarie urged the judge to sentence Habib to a minimum of nine years behind bars, arguing it was time to send a message to people wanting to do the same.

“It is a problem. It's a problem worldwide; it’s a problem we're having here in Canada, of people attempting to leave to go participate in terrorist activities,” he said.

“It is a message, and I think they decided we needed to address this phenomenon. We needed the right tools.”

The defence argued that a lesser sentence of six and a half years behind bars was sufficient, claiming that Habib's intention was really to meet up his wife and two children who by then were living in Syria. The defence said he never really espoused the ideology of the jihad.

The judge said he wanted to take time to study the suggestions from both the prosecution and the defence before determining a sentence at the end of September.