The man took his wife, son and five other children to Syria in 2015 to enlist in the Islamic State.
Washington:
An American who was just 14 when his father took him to Syria to join the Islamic State has been accused of aiding a terrorist group, US authorities said on Wednesday.
Jihad Ali, now 19, and his father Emraan Ali were repatriated to the United States from Syria, where they had been held since last year by the Syrian Democratic Forces, among hundreds of foreign fighters captured after the defeat of the Islamic State caliphate.
The father and son were indicted in Miami federal court for providing material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization.
The father, a naturalized American born in Trinidad and Tobago, took his New York-born wife, Jihad, and five other children to Syria in 2015 to enlist in the extremist group.
The father had been inspired by the teachings of US-born al Qaeda preacher Anwar Awlaki.
Jihad Ali told FBI investigators last year he was “excited to go somewhere new and see the world,” according to court documents.
Later in 2015, he entered the Islamic State’s weapons and warfare training and was assigned to an Islamic State battalion for English speakers, posting brags of his participation in the fighting on Facebook.
“Jihad described some of the training as cool and some as scary,” the court record said.
He and his father, now 53, were involved in several combat situations and were joined by another son of Emraan, who was not identified by the US Department of Justice and was younger than Jihad.
The three men traveled to Baghuz, Syria, in March, the last stronghold of the Islamic State in Syria, and placed in the custody of the SDF, allies of the anti-Western Islamic State coalition.
Jihad and his father both appeared in federal court in Florida on Wednesday, the Justice Department said.
There was no indication whether Jihad would be treated any differently since he was a child when he was introduced to IS.
The charges carry up to 20 years in prison.
(Except for the title, this story was not edited by GalacticGaming staff and is posted from a syndicated feed.)
