TASHKENT, Aug. 10 (Xinhua) -- A court in western Uzbekistan has sentenced a former videographer of the regional militant group to seven years in jail after he returned home after almost 25 years, Uzbek Supreme Court said Monday.

Bobonazar Rajabov left his home country in 1995 for neighboring Tajikistan to join the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU), a regional terrorist organization which had close ties with Al-Qaida and the Taliban, the court said.

Rajabov became a videographer of the militant group producing hundreds of propaganda videos containing speeches of the IMU leaders, battle scenes and other documentaries, according to the court report.

Following the U.S.-led coalition attacks in Afghanistan in 2001, the IMU lost its leaders and Rajabov lived in hiding in Iran and then in Turkey for almost two decades, and was allowed to return Uzbekistan after he turned in himself to the Uzbek Embassy in Turkey, it said.

The report did not give other details such as when the sentencing was handed over. However, it said Rajabov got a shorter jail term due to the fact that he never fought with firearms and never joined militant groups after his escape from Afghanistan. Enditem

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