Arrested in 1993, he was released at the behest of the Albanian Army and later returned to Kosovo, where he continued launching attacks against the Yugoslav establishment.

In July 1997, he was convicted of terrorism in absentia by a Yugoslav court; the trial was subsequently criticized by Human Rights Watch.

After several unsuccessful attempts to capture or kill him, Serbian police launched an attack against Jashari's home in Prekaz in March 1998.

[9] According to journalist Tim Judah, Jashari "hated the Serbs, and although he was one of the KLA’s early recruits, he was no ideological guerrilla.

[15] From 1991 to 1992, Jashari and about 100 other ethnic Albanians wishing to fight for the secession of Kosovo from Yugoslavia underwent military training in the municipality of Labinot-Mal in Albania.

Attempting to capture or kill him, Serbian police surrounded Jashari and his older brother, Hamëz, at their home in Prekaz on 30 December 1991.

In the ensuing siege, large numbers of Kosovo Albanians flocked to Prekaz, pressuring the police to withdraw from the village.

Human Rights Watch subsequently described the trial, in which fourteen other Kosovo Albanians were also convicted, as "[failing] to conform to international standards.

[8] With Jashari not present, thousands of Kosovo Albanians descended on Prekaz and again succeeded in pushing the Serbs out of the village and its surroundings.

[22] With the intention of "eliminating the suspects and their families,"[20] the police attacked villages that had been identified as KLA strongholds, including Likošane and Ćirez.

Human Rights Watch noted that "special police forces attacked without warning, firing indiscriminately at women, children and other noncombatants."

[26] Overall, approximately fifty-eight Kosovo Albanians were killed in the attack, including eighteen women and ten children under the age of sixteen.

The next day, the police dug a large grave near Donji Prekaz and buried the bodies of fifty-six people, ten of whom could not be identified.

[34] The exploits of Adem Jashari have been celebrated and turned into legend by former KLA members, some in government, and by Kosovar Albanian society resulting in songs, literature, monuments, memorials with streets and buildings bearing his name across Kosovo.