The five German tourists found in the Sahara desert on Nov. 20 have been charged in an Algerian court for stealing 130 artifacts and for damages to the UNESCO-protected Tassili national park. The three men and two women accrued fines totaling 35.2 million dinar ($485,000 or €365,000) and were each sentenced to three months in jail. The Germans had slipped away from their guides near the southern Algerian town of Illizi, and at the time it was feared that they had been taken captive by Al Qaeda rebels, as last year, 32 tourists were captured and held hostage in the region. It appears instead that they wanted to be left on their own to loot archeological sites. Their defense team plans to appeal the court's decision.