Source: Office of United States Attorneys
Defendant engaged in at least one battle with U.S.-led coalition forces.
WASHINGTON — Lirim Sylejmani, 49, a Kosovo-born naturalized U.S. citizen, was sentenced today in U.S. District Court to 10 years in prison in connection with undergoing military training with the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS) and then engaging in at least one battle with U.S.-led coalition forces.
The sentencing was announced by U.S. Attorney Jeanine Ferris Pirro, Head of the Department of Justice’s National Security Division Sue Bai, and FBI Acting Special Agent in Charge Courtland Rae of the Washington Field Office’s Counterterrorism Division.
Sylejmani, aka Abu Sulayman al-Kosovi, pleaded guilty on December 12, 2024, to receiving military-type training from a designated foreign terrorist organization. In addition to the prison term, Judge Rudolph Contreras ordered Sylejmani to serve a lifetime of supervised release.
“This defendant will spend a decade in prison thinking about the betrayal to this country,” said U.S. Attorney Pirro. “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.”
According to court documents, from November 2015 through February 2019, Sylejmani received military training from ISIS in Syria. Sylejmani was captured by the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in 2019 and spoke to a number of media outlets about his time with ISIS.
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. 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.
Upon completion of the 21-day military training, ISIS assigned Sylejmani to a battalion in Mosul, Iraq, and issued him an AK-47, four AK-47 magazines, a belt to hold the magazines and two grenades. Sylejmani pledged “bayat” (allegiance) to Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi, the leader of ISIS, and to the ISIS organization, in front of an Iraqi ISIS member. 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. During a battle with Coalition Forces he was hit with shrapnel in his legs. After receiving these injuries, he eventually was reassigned to a new battalion in the fall of 2017. Sylejmani also received payments from ISIS for his services. Between November 2017 and February 2019, Sylejmani moved his family southeast to Baghouz, Syria, as the territorial Caliphate of ISIS collapsed.
On February 27, 2019, Sylejmani and his family were captured by Coalition Forces. Sylejmani was jailed by the SDF in Syria at the Dashisha prison. He was transferred to United States law enforcement personnel on September 15, 2020, to face criminal charges in the District of Columbia.
This case was investigated by the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force.
This case was prosecuted by former Assistant U.S Attorney Brenda J. Johnson, Assistant United States Attorneys Steven Wasserman and Kimberly Paschall of the National Security Section, and Trial Attorney Jennifer Levy of the National Security Division’s Counterterrorism Section.
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