US charges citizen for providing support to IS

WASHINGTON, DC - SEPTEMBER 16: Acting U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Michael R. Sherwin speaks to the media about charges and arrests related to a computer intrusion campaign tied to the Chinese government by a group called APT 41 at the Department of Justice on September 16, 2020 in Washington, DC. The Justice Department unsealed charges on Wednesday against five Chinese citizens accused of hacking more than 100 companies in the U.S. who are allegedly members of a larger operation known as APT-41. Tasos Katopodis-Pool/Getty Images/AFP

WASHINGTON • Prosecutors in Washington have charged a US citizen for joining the so-called Islamic State (IS) group in Syria, according to a statement from the Justice Department on Wednesday.

The charges alleged that Lirim Sylejmani conspired to provide and provided material support to IS, which the US has classified as a terrorist organisation, between 2015 and 2019.

The department also claimed that he received military training from the self-styled caliphate.

“The defendant is a US citizen who abandoned the country that welcomed him to join IS Iraq and Syria in Syria,” acting US Attorney Michael Sherwin (picture) said in the statement of Sylejmani, who was born in Kosovo. “He will now be held accountable for his actions in an American courtroom.”

Sylejmani was captured by the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces last year, according to the statement, before facing an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Washington Field Office Joint Terrorism Task Force. —AFP