U.S. sentences ISIS-K member who aided Moscow concert hall attackers to 20 years in prison

Source: U.S. Department of Justice

A U.S. court sentenced Afghan citizen Mohammad Sharifullah to 20 years in prison, the U.S. Department of Justice reported. Sharifullah belongs to the Islamic State-Khorasan (also known as ISIS-K), a branch of the Islamic State operating in Afghanistan.

Prosecutors charged Sharifullah with conspiring to finance and support a terrorist organization, saying he took part in more than a dozen terrorist attacks around the world.

Sharifullah helped organize the 2021 bombings at Kabul’s airport during the withdrawal of American troops from Afghanistan, prosecutors said. He also gave the perpetrators of the 2024 attack on Crocus City Hall instructions on using Kalashnikov rifles and other weapons and stayed in contact with them during the attack.

The attack on the Crocus City Hall concert venue outside Moscow occurred on March 22, 2024, when gunmen stormed the complex ahead of a concert by the band Picnic. They opened fire on concertgoers and Crocus City Hall staff, then set the venue ablaze, killing 150 people in total.

ISIS-K claimed responsibility for the attack, while Russian authorities said the attackers had acted in Ukraine’s interest.

In March 2026, four of the attack’s direct perpetrators and 11 other defendants whom investigators considered accomplices were sentenced to life in prison. Four other defendants were sentenced to prison terms ranging from 19 years and 11 months to 22 years and 10 months.

At Meduza, we are committed to transparency about our use of artificial intelligence in the newsroom. The story you’re reading was written by one of our living, breathing journalists and translated from Russian using an AI model configured to follow our strict editorial standards. This translation process is the result of extensive testing and refinements to ensure our English-language coverage is timely and accurate. A Meduza editor reviews every draft before publication.

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U.S. sentences ISIS-K member who aided Moscow concert hall attackers to 20 years in prison

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U.S. sentences ISIS-K member who aided Moscow concert hall attackers to 20 years in prison

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