A resident of the Panj district, Khatlon province has been jailed for propagation of ideas of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) terror group.
A court in the Panj district sentenced local resident Rustam Mengatov to six years in prison for propagation of ISIS ideas, said the press center of the Prosecutor-General’s Office.
Mengatov graduated from madrasah in the city of Bokhtar (formerly Qurghon Teppa) and has previous conviction by bigamy.
He reportedly took military training in Afghanistan. In 2015-2017, Mengatov lived in Turkey where he joined the ISIS terror group, according to the Prosecutor-General’s Office press center.
Mengatov reportedly returned to Tajikistan in April 2017 and began calling on residents of the Panj district to travel to Syria and fight alongside ISIS militants against the Syrian government forces.
According to Tajik officials, some 1,900 Tajik citizens have fought alongside IS militants in Syria and Iraq in recent years.
