US citizen sentenced to 10 years after pleading guilty to fighting alongside ISIS for 4 years
Arrested for fighting alongside ISIS militants for four years, including at least one battle against U.S.-backed forces, a naturalized American citizen was sentenced to 10 years in federal prison by a district court in Washington Monday, according to the Department of Justice.
Lirim Sylejmani, 49, had entered a plea deal, where he admitted to the three criminal counts leveled against him all related to foreign terrorism. These charges, spelled out in a 2019 indictment by a US District Court grand jury for DC, are listed below:
- Conspiracy to provide material support or resources to a designated foreign terrorist organization
- Providing and attempting to provide material support or resources to a designated foreign terrorist organization
- Receiving military-type training from a foreign terrorist organization.
Born in Kosovo, a Muslim-majority country in the Balkan section of Southern Europe, Sylejmani was a naturalized U.S. citizen. Although court documents detail that he had not lived in the United States since 2011, when he appears to have moved back to his native country.
Read more: WUSA9