By Kanishka Singh
(Reuters) – A Uzbekistan citizen who is a resident of New York City who was convicted of conspiring to and attempting to provide material support to Islamic State was sentenced to 15 years in prison on Friday, the U.S. Justice Department said.
Dilkhayot Kasimov, 34, was convicted of both counts following a trial in 2019. He was charged in 2015.
“Kasimov is an ISIS (Islamic State of Iraq and Syria) supporter who collected and gave money to another individual to fund his travel to join the terrorist group. With this sentence, Kasimov is being held accountable for his crimes,” Matthew Olsen, assistant attorney general for national security, said in a statement.
The United States brands Islamic State a “foreign terrorist organization.”
“Kasimov was part of a group of individuals who sought to travel to Syria to join ISIS or to fund others who sought to become foreign fighters for ISIS,” Olsen said.
A representative of Kasimov could not immediately be reached for comment on Friday.
In 2015, Kasimov’s co-conspirators, Abdurasul Juraboev and Akhror Saidakhmetov, planned to travel to Syria to fight on behalf of Islamic State, the Justice Department said, adding that Kasimov provided money to help fund Saidakhmetov’s travel and expenses.
Juraboev and Saidakhmetov previously were each sentenced to 15 years in prison. The case was probed by the FBI.
(Reporting by Kanishka Singh in Washington; Editing by Leslie Adler)
