AhlulBayt News Agency - Three Muslim clerics have been caged by Albanian court for helping recruit 100 people to fight for the so-called Islamic State and other militant groups in Syria.
Clerics Bujar Hysa, Genci Balla and Gert Pashja, were found guilty of recruiting people for terrorist purposes, inciting hatred and making public calls for terrorist acts.
The trio preached in mosques not controlled by the Muslim Committee and are believed to have recruited most of the 100 people for the Syrian Civil War.
Cries of "Allahu Akbar" rang out in the chamber when the judge sentenced the clerics along with six other defendants.
Hysa shouted as he left the courtroom: "These American dogs did it", looking towards a US Embassy official who has been attending the court hearings.
One man shouted at police and journalists in the courtroom: "You are prisoners, not them.”
At some court sessions, Fadil Muslimani, a cook at a mosque who was among the other six defendants tried, said the group was loyal to the self-proclaimed Islamic State and that they hoped extremist jihadis would triumph in Syria and around the world.
He claimed: "This [trial] is a crusade against Islam. Communism died, democracy will be gone and Islam will triumph."
Hysa was sentenced to 18 years behind bars, Balla and Pashja were jailed jailed for 17 years each and Muslimani jailed for 12 years.
The 100 recruits are said to have travelled to Syria with some of their families to fight alongside militant groups.
The nine defendants refused to stand in the Albanian court when Judge Liljana Baku read out their sentence.
/129
