DUSHANBE -- Tajikistan's Supreme Court has sentenced 15 alleged members of a banned Islamist group, Jamaat Ansarullah.
In the closed trial hearing, 12 of the defendants were sentenced to prison terms between five and 24 years.
One defendant received a two-year suspended sentence while two were fined undisclosed amounts.
The trial began on August 30 and is the first against alleged group members since it was banned in May.
Most of the defendants were arrested during counterterrorist operations in Tajikistan's eastern Rasht area in 2011.
Some were detained in Pakistan.
Jamaat Ansarullah last year issued several videos calling on Tajik citizens to embrace jihad against "infidels," and urging citizens to take action to support the implementation of Islamic Shari'a law.
In the closed trial hearing, 12 of the defendants were sentenced to prison terms between five and 24 years.
One defendant received a two-year suspended sentence while two were fined undisclosed amounts.
The trial began on August 30 and is the first against alleged group members since it was banned in May.
Most of the defendants were arrested during counterterrorist operations in Tajikistan's eastern Rasht area in 2011.
Some were detained in Pakistan.
Jamaat Ansarullah last year issued several videos calling on Tajik citizens to embrace jihad against "infidels," and urging citizens to take action to support the implementation of Islamic Shari'a law.