A naturalized U.S. citizen was sentenced on Monday to 10 years in prison after pleading guilty to receiving military training from the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS) in Syria.
In a Monday press release, the United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia explained that 49-year-old Lirim Sylejmani received military training from ISIS and participated in “at least one battle with U.S.-led coalition forces” in Syria.
U.S. District Judge Rudolph Contreras sentenced Sylejmani to 10 years in federal prison and a lifetime of supervised relief. Monday’s press release noted that Sylejmani pleaded guilty in December to receiving military training from a designated foreign terrorist organization.
“This defendant will spend a decade in prison thinking about the betrayal to this country,” U.S. Attorney Jeanine Ferris Pirro said. “Anyone thinking that ISIS is the answer to their questions, best think again. We will go to any lengths to root out subversive individuals who want to overthrow the government and harm its citizens.”
Monday’s press release cited court documents that show Sylejmani was trained by ISIS in Syria from November of 2015 through February of 2019.
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“In November 2015, Sylejmani, a naturalized U.S. citizen living in Kosovo, traveled to Syria with his family to join ISIS. After entering Syria, Sylejmani completed his ISIS intake process,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia stated. “He adopted the name Abu Sulayman al-Kosovi and trained to be a soldier with other ISIS recruits. Sylejmani’s military training included instruction on how to assemble and fire an AK-47 rifle, as well as how to use a PK Machine gun, M-16 rifle and grenades.”
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia explained that following 21 days of military training, Sylejmani was assigned to an ISIS battalion in Iraq, was given “an AK-47, four AK-47 magazines, a belt to hold the magazines and two grenades, and pledged allegiance to ISIS. The U.S. Attorney’s office added that Sylejmani was paid by ISIS for his services.
“In May 2016, the defendant reported for ribat (guard) duty on the front line of the Manbij offensive. The defendant brought his gun belt, AK-47 and magazines to his ribat assignment,” the press release stated. “During a battle with Coalition Forces he was hit with shrapnel in his legs.”
According to Monday’s press release, Sylejmani and his family were captured by Coalition Forces in February of 2019, and the 49-year-old was transferred to U.S. custody in September of 2020 to face criminal charges.
