ISTARAVSHAN, Tajikistan -- An Istaravshan court has sentenced a Tajik to 12 years in prison for belonging to the banned terrorist organisation Jamaat Ansarullah (JA), Akhbor.com reported Monday (August 12), quoting Ayubjon Kodirzoda, the chief judge of the trial.
The defendant, Khairiddin Yakubov of Sepula village, was found guilty of joining JA in 2005. He journeyed to the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) in Pakistan in 2007 to attend a terrorist training camp, according to the court.
Yakubov, 37, said he had quit JA in May 2013, but the court found his claims unconvincing. He was an active JA member in Tajikistan, Russia, Afghanistan and Pakistan who enabled other JA members to commit serious crimes in Tajikistan, according to investigators.
JA, which took responsibility for a deadly suicide bombing in Khujand in 2010, has been banned in Tajikistan since 2012.
