A U.S. citizen who was born in Kosovo received a 10-year prison sentence Monday for being trained by Islamic State to fight against the U.S., including engaging in at least one battle against U.S.-led coalition forces.

Lirim Sylejmani, 49, moved to Chicago 25 years ago but relocated to Syria 10 years ago.

In December, Sylejmani pleaded guilty to one count of receiving military training from a foreign terrorist organization.

U.S. District Judge Rudolph Contreras in Washington, D.C., ruled that after serving the sentence, Sylejmani would have supervised release for the rest of his life.

"Think again"

"This defendant will spend a decade in prison thinking about the betrayal to this country," the interim U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, Jeanine Pirro, wrote.

"Anyone thinking that ISIS is the answer to their questions, best think again," she continued. "We will go to any lengths to root out subversive individuals who want to overthrow the government and harm its citizens."

Sylejmani and his family crossed the border into Syria after going to Turkey in 2015

He trained with ISIS until 2019 when he and his family were captured by Syrian forces.

More details

During a battle with Syrian forces in 2016, Sylejmani was injured.

While in Syria, prosecutors said Sylejmani adopted the name Abu Sulayman al-Kosovi.

He also pledged allegiance to ISIS leader Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi and to the ISIS organization in front of an Iraqi ISIS member.

He has been awaiting trial in the U.S. since 2020. "The conduct is far more than a single, impulsive act. 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," prosecutors wrote.

According to his lawyers, he is wracked with guilt over his actions, which have left his family in a Syrian refugee camp, detained and "living in terrible conditions."

He is not prone to violence, they said. "He wishes only to complete his time and find his wife and children, so he can live an average law-abiding life with them."