Kazakh Handed Six-Year Prison Term For Fighting With Extremist Group In Syria

Kazakhstan's National Security Committee (KNB) said on September 25 that a court in the central city of Satbaev had sentenced a local man to six years in prison earlier this month for joining the Islamic State (IS) group in Syria. The man, whose identity was not disclosed, "was arrested in Syria with the assistance of foreign services in June" and transferred to Kazakhstan, the KNB statement said. Hundreds of Kazakh citizens have joined IS and other extremist groups in Syria in recent years. A total of 742 Kazakh citizens, mostly women and children, have returned to Kazakhstan via a state program since 2018. To read the original story by RFE/RL's Kazakh Service, click here.