A cyclist from online delivery company Deliveroo is seen in Paris during the March 2020 Covid-19 lockdown. Photo: Reuters/Hans Lucas Pictures.

A courier working for food delivery app Deliveroo has been jailed by a French court for four months for discrimination, after he refused to collect orders from two kosher restaurants in the city of Strasbourg.

The court’s decision came after the owners of the establishments filed a complaint against the courier, who has not been named. A lawyer for the restaurateurs explained that last weekend, the restaurants had prepared the orders received from Deliveroo only to be told by the courier, “I don’t deliver to Jews,” when he learned that the establishments served Israeli food.

“French law prohibits discrimination of any kind. You have to respect everyone in this country,” Judge Bertrand Gautier said at the trial.

He added that the courier, an Algerian who entered France on a tourist visa that has since expired, fraudulently used an associate’s Deliveroo codes and had his proceeds transferred to the account of a third person.

The suspect was also ordered to leave the country after serving his sentence, a deportation confirmed in a tweet by Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin.

Speaking via an interpreter, the courier admitted to canceling the orders but denied saying he would not deliver to Jews.

The Israelite Consistory of the Bas-Rhin department had also filed a complaint against Deliveroo, which vowed to take immediate action if the allegations were confirmed.

“We are relieved by the conclusion of this inquiry, which allowed the identification of the person who carried out these hateful acts, thanks to close cooperation between Deliveroo and the police,” Melvina Sarfati El Grably — the company’s general manager for France — said in a statement.