Abdella Ahmad Tounisi of Aurora. | Handout photo~Tounisi family
CHICAGO — A federal judge says a 20-year-old American accused of trying to join al-Qaida-affiliated fighters in Syria will remain jailed pending trial.
Abdella Ahmad Tounisi’s lawyer asked at a Thursday hearing in Chicago for her client to be released to home confinement.
Molly Armour argued that Tounisi was an immature 18-year-old when he was arrested at O’Hare International Airport in 2013 trying to board a plane to Turkey. She argued that his stint in jail since has been “a maturing process.”
But prosecutor William Ridgway countered that jail may have actually hardened Tounisi’s anti-American views.
Judge Samuel Der-Yeghiayan said he saw no compelling reason to revisit the detention issue.
Tounisi’s mother wept after the ruling.
Tounisi, of Aurora, a Chicago suburb, is charged with material support for terrorism.
