DUSHANBE, February 26, 2016, Asia-Plus – Four Tajik women have been jailed for an alleged attempt to join the Islamic State (IS) militant group in Syria.
Radio Liberty’s Tajik Service
reported on February 25 that a court in Dushanbe has sentenced the 60-year-old Adolat Sherbekova from Khatlon’s Qubodiyon district, her two daughters-in-law Dilafrouz and Olamkhon, as well as Qumri Muminova from Sughd’s Isfara district to prison terms between five and six years.
We will recall that in a statement released on October 9, 2015, the Interior Ministry noted that the four women were detained with four children near the Tajik-Kyrgyz border in the Isfara district on September 25, 2015. Two nationals of Kyrgyzstan – Jahongir Qurmishev and Qanibek Miymanov – were reportedly going to send the women to Turkey and from there to Syria, where one of Adolat Sherbekova’s sons is fighting alongside the IS militants.
Besides, Ms. Nasiba Fatoyeva from the Isfara district was detained with her two children last September while illegally crossing the Tajik-Kyrgyz border. She was also going to join her husband, who is fighting alongside the IS militant sin Syria.
In a report released at a news conference in Dushanbe, Tajik Interior Minister Ramazon Rahimzoda noted on January 25 that 61 Tajik nationals had returned from Syria and Iraq, while 148 had been killed in fighting there.
Tajik authorities say up to 1,000 nationals have joined Islamic State (IS) militants in Syria and Iraq, doubling the figure that officials previously provided.
