Albanian court jails 9 for recruiting fighters for Syria

An Albanian court sentenced nine defendants, including three Muslim clerics, to jail sentences of up to 18 years for recruiting people to fight in Syria's civil war.

The sentencing marked the end of a two-year trial that has underlined concerns about radicalization among Muslims in Albania and other Balkan countries and has been closely followed by Tirana's NATO ally the United States, The New York Times reported.

A small number of Albanians in the majority-Muslim ex-communist state have in recent years come under the influence of radical preachers, usually foreigners or Albanians who received their training abroad.

The nine defendants refused to stand when Judge Liljana Baku read out their sentence, just as they have done throughout their trial, saying they recognized only the will of Allah.

The three 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, and were sentenced respectively to 18, 17 and 17 years in a high-security jail.

They had preached in mosques not controlled by the official Muslim Committee and are believed to have recruited most of the 100 or so Albanians estimated to have traveled to Syria, some with their families, to fight alongside militant groups.

The other six defendants were found guilty of the same charges but sentenced to shorter terms in jail.

About 60 percent of Albanians are Muslims and traditionally follow a tolerant version of the faith, co-existing peacefully with their Christian neighbors.