The Samarkand Regional Court in Uzbekistan's southeast has jailed five local residents for intending to join militants of the Islamic State (IS) extremist group in Syria.
The court said on August 12 that four men and one woman had been sentenced to prison terms of between 10 and 13 years. Three of the convicted individuals were arrested by Russian authorities in the Russian city of Sochi on their way to Syria via Turkey and later deported to Uzbekistan, the court said.
In early July, six other residents of Samarkand received lengthy prison terms for their plans to join IS militants in Syria and Iraq.
In late July, seven local residents in Uzbekistan's eastern region of Namangan were sentenced to prison terms of between five and nine years on the same charges.
Hundreds of men and women from Uzbekistan and other Central Asian countries are believed to be fighting alongside IS militants in Syria and Iraq.
