Suburban man who tried to join terror group deserves leniency: lawyer

A suburban Chicago man accusing of trying to join al-Qaida-affiliated fighters in Syria should be given leniency, in part, because he tried to dissuade another accused terrorist from setting off a bomb near a Chicago nightclub, a lawyer for the suburbanite has argued.

A lawyer for Abdella Tounisi also argues her client was “impulsive and immature” when he was arrested at O’Hare Airport in 2013, while trying to board a Turkey-bound aircraft, according to a sentencing memorandum filed this week in federal court.

Tounisi, who has been locked up since his arrest, pleaded guilty in August 2015 to one count of providing material support to a terrorist group.

A year before Tounisi’s arrest, he had a “fleeting dalliance,” with Adel Daoud, wrote Tounisi’s lawyer, Molly Armour, in the memorandum.

Daoud is currently awaiting trial, accused of pushing the detonator on a fake car bomb he placed near a downtown Chicago bar. The inert explosive had been given to him by an undercover agent.

Armour argues in the memorandum that Tounisi worked hard to get Daoud not to target civilians.

“He sought out and obtained an authoritative religious opinion to convince Mr. Daoud he was wrong,” Armour argues. “He made Mr. Daoud promise he would not do anything. … All of this was to no avail; Mr. Daoud pursued his plans without Abdella and without Abdella’s knowledge.”

Armour also noted that her client, as a child, “did not feel accepted by his classmates because he was a Muslim and endured prejudice and bullying.”

Armour argues that Tounisi deserves no more than 7 years in prison.