US Sentences Former ISIS Member to Decade in Prison Amid Official Embrace of Syrian Leader

A 49-year-old naturalized US citizen has been sentenced to 10 years in federal prison for joining ISIS in Syria in 2015. Lirim Sylejmani trained as an ISIS soldier and pled guilty to terrorism charges in December. The sentence comes as the US has officially embraced Syrian leader Ahmed al-Sharaa (Jolani), who was once an emissary of ISIS terror chief Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi and has been linked to al-Qaeda and the US terrorism list.

WASHINGTON — A 49-year-old naturalized U.S. citizen, Lirim Sylejmani, was sentenced to 10 years in federal prison for joining the Islamic State (ISIS) in Syria in 2015. Sylejmani pleaded guilty to terrorism charges in December and was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Rudolph Contreras in Washington, D.C. [1]

Sylejmani, who was born in Kosovo and moved to Chicago roughly 25 years ago, was found guilty of receiving military training from a foreign terrorist organization. He admitted to engaging in at least one battle against U.S.-led forces after entering Syria in 2015. The judge imposed a sentence of 10 years in prison followed by a lifetime of supervised release. [1]

According to prosecutors, Sylejmani and his family flew to Turkey and then crossed the border into Syria in November 2015, where he began training with other IS recruits. He was injured in a battle with Syrian forces in June 2016 and was captured with his family in Baghouz, Syria, in February 2019. [1]

Sylejmani's attorneys argued that he is not a committed jihadist and does not espouse violence. They stated that he is guilt-ridden for his actions and the harm he has visited on his family, who remain detained in a refugee camp in Syria living under terrible conditions. [1]

The sentencing comes as the U.S. has officially embraced Syrian leader Ahmed al-Sharaa (Jolani), who was once an emissary of ISIS terror chief Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi and has been linked to al-Qaeda and the U.S. terrorism list. [2]

References:
[1] https://apnews.com/article/islamic-state-prison-sentence-7ddd5fbcd7b586505096cfd27a9b70f6
[2] https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2025/06/02/islamic-state-prison-sentence/7be2cce6-3fee-11f0-b78e-5ddff7eb1e49_story.html