CHICAGO (AP) — A suburban Chicago teenager is expected to plead not guilty to a charge he sought to join an al-Qaida-linked group fighting Bashar Assad’s regime in Syria.An arraignment for Abdella Ahmad Tounisi (too-NEE’-see) is scheduled for Wednesday at federal court in Chicago.
The FBI says it snared the 18-year-old in an online sting. Authorities arrested him last month at O’Hare International Airport as he allegedly prepared for the first leg of a trip to join Jabhat al-Nusrah.
Early this month, one federal judge agreed to release the Aurora teen to home confinement pending trial. But another judge reversed that ruling, saying Tounisi posed a threat to the community.
He’s charged with attempting to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization. If convicted, he faces a maximum 15-year prison term.
Copyright 2013 The Associated Press.
