By Sue-Ann Wayow
A TRINIDADIAN-born US citizen has been sentenced to 20 years imprisonment for joining the Islamic State (IS).
Associated Press (AP) reported on Tuesday that Emraan Ali, 55, moved his family to war-torn Syria to fight for IS.
He was sentenced Tuesday in Miami federal court, according to court records. He had pleaded guilty in November to conspiring to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organisation.
He and his son, 22-year-old Jihad Ali, surrendered to Syrian Democratic Forces near Baghuz in March 2019, during the last sustained Islamic State group battles to maintain territory in Syria, officials said.
They were later transferred to FBI custody and returned to the US.
The son, who was born in New York and began IS military and religious training at 15 years old, was previously sentenced to five years in prison.
AP reported that according to court records, Ali moved his family from Trinidad and Tobago to Brazil, to Turkey and eventually Syria in March 2015.
He falsely told his children that they were going on vacation but actually intended to join IS, prosecutors said.
After arriving in Syria, IS registered Ali and his family, and Ali underwent ISIS religious and military training with other English speakers, officials said.
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The training included instruction on the operation of various automatic weapons such as the AK-47 assault rifle and PKC machine gun.
AP reported that Ali was eventually discharged from combat duty and worked in residential construction for ISIS in the group’s then-de facto capital of Raqqa, investigators said.
He also became a merchant and began buying and selling livestock, cars, weapons, weapons accessories and telephones to and from other ISIS members and provided money remitting services to other Trinidadian ISIS fighters in Syria and donated money to ISIS members.
Ali and his family relocated within Syria several times over the years, officials said.
In February, US-based Human Rights Watch Group officials visiting Trinidad said Trinidad and Tobago nationals suffering in Syria are willing to face whatever action is taken against them if they get the chance to come back home.
The officials urged Government to bring back home some 90 nationals mostly women and children who had travelled to Syria to join the cause of IS.
