![Tajik militants are shown in Syria in a photo posted June 13, 2016, on the social media site Odnoklassniki. [File]](/cnmi_ca/images/2019/12/18/21502-pak1-739_416.webp)
SUGHD PROVINCE, Tajikistan -- A man from Spitamen District, Sughd Province, received a 15-year prison sentence for fighting for "Islamic State" (IS) in Syria and Iraq, ASIA-Plus reported Wednesday (December 18), citing the Tajik general prosecutor's office.
A court in Spitamen District handed down the sentence to Shukhratjon Satimov, 31.
IS recruited him in 2013 when he was doing migrant labour in Russia. He reportedly joined IS militants in 2015 and fought government forces in Iraq and Syria.
Tajikistan put him on an international wanted list and opened a criminal case against him in absentia. Tajik authorities arrested him when he returned home after the defeat of IS in Syria and Iraq.
Meanwhile, a Kyrgyz official disclosed some statistics on the number of Kyrgyz who joined insurgents in the Mideast.
In the past nine years, more than 800 Kyrgyz have fought in Syria, 24.kg reported December 18, citing Asylbek Mambetov, a department chief at the Kyrgyz Interior Ministry (MVD).
Seventy-two Kyrgyz who fought there have returned home; 44 of them are in prison, he said.
"Twenty-six [of the 72] have been released," said Mambetov. "They are all on the MVD watch list and are being monitored."
