Chicago Man Gets 10 Years for ISIS Ties \ Newslooks \ Washington DC \ Mary Sidiqi \ Evening Edition \ A naturalized U.S. citizen from Chicago was sentenced to 10 years in prison for receiving military training from ISIS and fighting in Syria. Lirim Sylejmani pleaded guilty and expressed remorse, while prosecutors emphasized the deliberate nature of his actions. His family remains in a Syrian refugee camp.
Quick Looks
- Lirim Sylejmani, U.S. citizen from Kosovo, sentenced to 10 years
- Pleaded guilty to receiving military training from ISIS
- Prosecutors say he engaged in battle against U.S.-led forces
- Sentenced by Judge Rudolph Contreras in Washington, D.C.
- Lifetime supervised release to follow prison term
- Traveled with family to Syria in 2015 via Turkey
- Captured in Baghouz, Syria in 2019 during final ISIS holdout
- Prosecutors call actions a “deliberate threat to U.S. safety”
- Defense says he regrets decision, wants to reunite with family
- Family remains detained in a refugee camp under poor conditions
Deep Look
Lirim Sylejmani, a naturalized U.S. citizen originally from Kosovo, was sentenced on Monday to 10 years in federal prison for receiving military training from the Islamic State (ISIS). The 49-year-old, who spent more than two decades living in Chicago, had pleaded guilty in December 2023 to one count of receiving military training from a foreign terrorist organization. His sentencing, delivered by U.S. District Judge Rudolph Contreras in Washington, D.C., also includes a lifetime of supervised release following his prison term.
The case is one of the latest involving American citizens who traveled abroad to join extremist groups, raising ongoing concerns about domestic radicalization and the long-term threat posed by Americans who train or fight with foreign terrorist organizations.
According to federal prosecutors, Sylejmani traveled with his family from the U.S. to Syria in November 2015 by way of Turkey. Upon entering Syria, he began military training with ISIS and ultimately participated in at least one armed conflict against U.S.-led coalition forces. His involvement was not peripheral; rather, prosecutors say he was actively engaged in ISIS combat operations and fully aware of the group’s violent objectives.
In June 2016, Sylejmani was injured during a battle against Syrian forces. He remained in ISIS-held territory until 2019, when he and his family were captured by coalition forces in Baghouz, Syria—the site of the final, bloody stand of the Islamic State’s territorial caliphate. That marked the collapse of ISIS’s once-expansive control across parts of Syria and Iraq.
The Department of Justice emphasized the deliberate nature of Sylejmani’s decisions. Prosecutors said he wasn’t just a passive traveler who fell into the wrong circumstances; instead, he made a conscious choice to align himself with one of the world’s most dangerous terrorist organizations. “The conduct is far more than a single, impulsive act,” they wrote. “He chose to jeopardize the safety of his family by bringing them to a war-torn country to join and take up arms for ISIS.”
His actions, they argue, posed a direct threat to U.S. interests and the safety of American and allied troops operating in the region. Moreover, the fact that he brought his family—including his wife and children—into a conflict zone is considered by many as one of the more egregious elements of his case.
Sylejmani’s defense attorneys presented a more nuanced picture. They acknowledged his guilt but argued that he is not a hardened militant or an ideological extremist. “He is guilt-ridden for his actions and the harm he has visited on his family,” they wrote in court filings. They also highlighted that his family remains detained in a refugee camp in Syria, where conditions are notoriously harsh. His goal, they said, is to complete his sentence, reunite with his family, and live quietly as a law-abiding citizen.
This case underscores the complexity of prosecuting individuals linked to terrorist groups—especially when family members and long-standing legal residency in the United States are involved. Unlike many foreign fighters, Sylejmani was not an outsider; he had been part of an American community for over two decades before joining ISIS.
Legal analysts say that Sylejmani’s sentencing aligns with a broader federal strategy aimed at holding U.S. citizens accountable for actions that support terrorist organizations overseas. In recent years, several Americans have been prosecuted for either attempting to join or actually participating in ISIS operations. Each case poses its own legal, logistical, and ethical questions, especially when it involves children or spouses caught in conflict zones.
The humanitarian aspect of Sylejmani’s case—particularly the continued detention of his family—adds another layer of complexity. Human rights organizations have repeatedly raised concerns about the thousands of women and children who remain in Kurdish-controlled refugee camps in northern Syria. These camps house the families of ISIS fighters and supporters, and many detainees face indefinite detention without clear pathways to resettlement or repatriation.
U.S. officials have been cautious about bringing back American citizens linked to ISIS, citing national security risks. However, there have been calls from both international groups and domestic advocates for more structured legal processes that differentiate between active combatants and those who were coerced or brought against their will, particularly children.
Judge Contreras acknowledged the gravity of the case in his sentencing, but ultimately followed the terms of the plea deal negotiated between Sylejmani and the Justice Department. A 10-year prison sentence is considered significant for the charge of receiving military training from a terrorist organization, especially when combined with lifetime supervised release.
This case serves as a reminder of the enduring consequences of radicalization and the long shadow cast by the rise of ISIS during the last decade. While the group no longer holds territory, the impact of its ideology—and the actions of those who responded to its call—continues to reverberate globally.
For now, Sylejmani begins his prison term in the United States, far from the battlegrounds of Syria where he once fought. His family’s fate remains uncertain in a refugee camp thousands of miles away. Whether reunification is possible will depend not only on legal decisions in the U.S. but also on complex international negotiations and humanitarian policies.
Chicago Man Gets Chicago Man Gets Chicago Man Gets
