Marc Emery talks to reporters outside the B.C. Supreme Court in Vancouver in September 2009, the morning before turning himself in for extradition to the U.S. Marc Emery talks to reporters outside the B.C. Supreme Court in Vancouver in September 2009, the morning before turning himself in for extradition to the U.S. (CBC)

B.C. marijuana activist Marc Emery has been sentenced to five years imprisonment on drug distribution charges by a U.S. federal judge in Seattle, Wash.

The sentence handed down Friday afternoon is in accord with a deal the Vancouver entrepreneur struck with U.S. prosecutors when he pleaded guilty in May.

U.S. District Court Judge Ricardo Martinez recommended that Emery, 52, be allowed to serve his time in a Canadian prison.

Prior to sentencing, Emery admitted breaking the law by selling marijuana seeds to U.S. customers and promised he would not break the law again.

Emery was arrested at his Vancouver shop in 2005 by Vancouver police, who were working with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency. He was accused of selling marijuana seeds to U.S. customers through his mail order business.

Since Emery voluntarily surrendered for extradition in May, he has been held at the maximum-security SeaTac Federal Detention Centre.

He spent three weeks in solitary confinement after his supporters podcast a video recording he made in the prison, but has been in the general population since, said his wife.