Kosovo man sentenced to 10 years in U.S. prison for terrorism

Lirim Sulejmani, a 49-year-old man from Kosovo who also holds U.S. citizenship, has been sentenced to 10 years in prison by a U.S. District Court for involvement with the terrorist organization ISIS, the U.S. Department of Justice announced, according to Gazeta Blic.

Sulejmani, also known as Abu Sulayman al-Kosovi, pleaded guilty on December 12 to receiving military training from a designated terrorist organization. The sentence was handed down on Monday, June 2, by federal judge Rudolph Contreras, who also ordered that Sulejmani be placed under lifetime supervision following the completion of his sentence.

“Sulejmani will spend a decade in prison reflecting on the betrayal he committed against this country. Anyone who believes ISIS is a solution should think again. We will go to the ends of the earth to stop anyone seeking to harm our citizens,” said prosecutor Piro.

According to court documents, from November 2015 to February 2019, Sulejmani traveled to Syria with his family to join ISIS. There, he underwent 21 days of military training, during which he learned to use weapons such as the AK-47, M-16, and hand grenades, after which he was assigned to a battalion in Mosul, Iraq.

He pledged allegiance to then-ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. In May 2016, he participated in the battle for Manbij against U.S.-led coalition forces. Later, in 2017, he was transferred to another battalion and continued his activities in the remaining ISIS-controlled areas until early 2019.

He and his family were captured by Coalition forces on February 27, 2019, while in Baghouz, ISIS’s last stronghold. Following his arrest, Sulejmani was held in the Dashisha prison under the supervision of the Syrian Democratic Forces, and on September 15, 2020, he was transferred to U.S. custody to face justice.

The case was investigated by the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force and prosecuted by federal attorneys specializing in national security.