Man Facing U.S. Terrorism Charges Appears Before Houston Court
HOUSTON, Jan 8 (Reuters) – A Palestinian born in Iraq who entered the United States as a refugee more than five years ago appeared in federal court in Houston on Friday to face charges he supplied support to ISIS and lied to U.S. officials.
Omar Faraj Saeed Al-Hardan, 24, was one of two Middle Eastern men whose arrests on terrorism-related charges U.S. authorities announced Thursday. The most serious charge carries up to 25 years in prison.
A bond hearing was set for Wednesday.
Neither was charged with plotting an attack on the United States. More than 75 U.S. residents allegedly radicalized by Muslim militants have been arrested since 2014.
Al-Hardan, granted legal permanent residency status in the United States in August 2011, said through an interpreter that he needed the judge to explain to him what an indictment was, adding he did not speak English well.
He is charged with aiding Islamic State by offering himself up for its services as well as knowingly providing material support to the militant group, an indictment unsealed on Thursday said.
Wearing glasses and a gray plaid shirt, he told the judge that he made it through 11th grade at a school in Jordan. He said he is married and has one child.
He also faces two charges about providing false information to U.S. officials concerning his ties to a terrorist organization and being provided weapons training, it said.
In Sacramento, the U.S. Department of Justice said Aws Mohammed Younis Al-Jayab, 23, came to the United States in 2012 as a refugee from Syria.
Al-Jayab was arrested on Thursday on a federal charge of making a false statement involving international terrorism, the U.S. Department of Justice said. He is due to appear in court later in the day.
The U.S. attorney for Sacramento, Benjamin Wagner, said in a statement there were no indications Al-Jayab had planned any attacks in the United States.
The two men may have been in contact with each other, a source familiar with the case said.