A court in the city of Bokhtar, the capital of Khatlon province, has found local woman Kamila Urunboyeva guilty under Article 401 (mercenarism) of the country's Penal Code and sentenced her to 20 years in prison. She will serve her term in a low-security penal colony. Varqa Zayniddin, Senior Aide to the Chief Prosecutor of Khatlon Province, says the investigation has revealed that 37-year-old Urunboyeva was recruited by her husband in 2015, and in 2016, she traveled to Syria via Turkiye.
“While working in Moscow as a labor migrant, Urunboyeva met a resident of Roudaki district, Abdurasoul Umarali Ughli, known as 'Saifullo,' through the Viber messenger. Shortly thereafter, they performed the 'nikah' marriage ritual. Her husband then recruited her, and she joined the ranks of the banned organization 'Jabhat al-Nusra.' In January 2016, Kamila Urunboyeva flew to Turkey, and from there, she illegally crossed the border and went to Syria," he said.
According to the prosecutor’s aide, Urunboyeva directly participated in fightings alongside the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) in Syria and Iraq.
He refrained from giving further details of the case, including how, where, and when the woman was detained. Zayniddin only noted that that criminal proceedings against Ms. Urunboyeva were instituted under the provisions of Article 401 (3) of Tajikistan’s Penal Code (mercenarism, participation of a mercenary in armed conflicts or military actions) in April this year.
According to data provided by the State Committee for National Security (SCNS) of Tajikistan in 2020, some 1,900 people from Tajikistan have left for Iraq and Syria since 2014 to join the ISIL terror group. More than 1,700 of them have reportedly been put on the international wanted list. Some 500 Tajiks were reportedly killed in armed conflicts in Middle East and more than 700 others were detained.
Radio Liberty’s Tajik Service reported on March 12, 2019 that more than 100 people in total, including families with children, have returned from the conflict zone — both before and after the amnesty, which was offered in 2015.
Some were convicted of being mercenaries or recruiting for foreign terrorist organizations. Most, however, have reportedly reintegrated into society under the watchful eyes of authorities, including security services and neighborhood committees.
Tajik authorities in 2015 offered an amnesty to those who voluntarily returned and renounced violence, seeing it as an opportunity to warn citizens of the dangers of joining ranks with radical Islam.
