Eight jailed in Aktobe for propagating terrorism

    A court in Kazakhstan's northwestern city of Aktobe has condemned eight local men to prison for propagating terrorism.
    The Aktobe regional court's press service told RFE/RL on August 3 the men received prison terms between three and six years after they were found guilty of inciting social, ethnic, racial, and religious discord via a religious chat on the popular WhatsApp mobile-phone application.
    The youngest of the men is 21 and the oldest is 38 years old.
    Kazakhstan's Committee for National Security detained a woman in the eastern town of Zyryanovsk last week on suspicion of recruiting local residents for possible participation in the activities of international terrorist organizations.
    The names of the terrorist organizations were not reported.
    Kazakh authorities have expressed concern that hundreds of its citizens are fighting alongside Islamist militants in Syria and Iraq, according to RFE/RL.