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Abdella Ahmad
Tounisi, 21, of Aurora, Illinois, was arrested in 2013 as he
prepared to board a plane at Chicago's O'Hare International
Airport bound for Istanbul, Turkey, prosecutors said.
Tounisi, then 18, had spent four months conducting online
research related to overseas travel and violent jihad, focusing
specifically on Syria and the Jabhat al-Nusrah terrorist group,
prosecutors said.
Jabhat al-Nusrah is listed by the State Department as an alias
for al Qaeda in Iraq (AQI), a designated foreign terrorist
organization.
Tounisi made online contact with someone he thought was a
recruiter for Jabhat al-Nusrah, and expressed his willingness to
fight for the jihadist cause, according to a plea agreement. A
U.S. citizen, Tounisi had planned to travel from Istanbul to
Syria, prosecutors said.
Syria has been enmeshed since 2011 in a brutal civil war that
began as a revolt against President Bashar al-Assad.
Tounisi admitted to one count of attempting to provide material
support to a foreign-terrorist organization, and faces a maximum
of 15 years in prison and a $250,000 fine when he is sentenced
on Dec. 9.
The FBI has said Tounisi was a friend of Adel Daoud, an American
accused of trying to stage a bombing outside a downtown Chicago
bar in 2012. The agency said Tounisi had not been involved in
that plot.
Daoud is set for trial in federal court on Sept. 30.
(Reporting by Mary Wisniewski; Editing by Bill Trott)
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