U.S. court sentences an Uzbek national to over 12 years for helping aspiring ISIS fighter

Brooklyn federal court sentenced an Uzbek national on Thursday to twelve and a half years in prison for supporting a wannabe ISIS fighter, New York Post writes.

Azizjon Rakhmatov, 33, of New Haven, Connecticut, previously pleaded guilty to one count of conspiring to provide material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization, according to Seth DuCharme, the acting US Attorney for the Eastern District of New York.

In 2015, Rakhmatov gave aspiring terrorist Akhror Saidakhmetov $400 cash to help bankroll a trip to Syria to join ISIS and to buy a gun once he arrived.

Saidakhmetov, who had pledged his allegiance to ISIS, had said if he couldn’t make it to Syria to wage jihad, he’d turn his homicidal urges on cops and FBI agents in the US, according to court papers.

Saidakhmetov flew from JFK Airport to Istanbul, Turkey, on Feb. 25, where he was picked up by authorities before he could sneak across the border. He was sentenced in 2017 to 15 years in prison.

Both men are expected to be deported once they’ve completed their sentences, prosecutors said.