Macedonia Jails Five for Joining Jihadists in Syria, Iraq
A Macedonian court on Wednesday sentenced five militants to up to four and a half years in prison after finding them guilty of fighting alongside jihadist groups in war-torn Syria and Iraq.
The tribunal in Skopje found the five men guilty of joining a "foreign army", a court statement said, adding that their sentences ranged from two to four and a half years in jail.
All five were arrested after they returned from fighting in Syria and Iraq, the court said.
The men pleaded guilty to the charges.
They were among 11 Macedonian nationals arrested in a nationwide police operation in August last year and accused of having jihadist links.
In March the six others, including Rexhep Memishi, an imam at a Skopje mosque who was considered a jihadist leader, were jailed for five to seven years.
They too had been found guilty of joining jihadist groups in Iraq and Syria.
According to Macedonia's criminal code, joining conflicts abroad as well as recruiting citizens to fight in foreign conflicts is punishable by five years in jail.
Macedonian President Gjorge Ivanov has said that 72 people who have returned from Syria to Macedonia are considered "potential terrorists".
According to local police, some 130 Macedonian citizens have fought or are still fighting in the Middle East.
Syria's war began in 2011 as a popular revolt seeking democratic reform, but later morphed into a brutal civil war that attracted jihadists from all over the world.
Source: Agence France Presse
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