HOUSTON (AP) – The brother of an Iraqi refugee who had settled in Texas said he is in shock after learning that his sibling – who had come to the U.S. to escape the violence in their homeland – is now facing charges that he tried to help the Islamic State group.
Federal authorities allege 24-year-old Omar Faraj Saeed Al Hardan of Houston was coordinating efforts with another Iraqi refugee living in Sacramento, California, Aws Mohammed Younis Al-Jayab, to get weapons training and eventually sneak into Syria to fight alongside the terrorist group.
Both men remain jailed after initial court appearances on Friday. Al Hardan was indicted on three charges, including attempting to provide material support for terrorists, and faces up to 25 years in prison. Al-Jayab faces up to eight years in prison on charges of traveling to Syria to fight and lying to U.S. authorities about his travels.
Saeed Faraj Saeed Al Hardan, Omar Al Hardan’s older brother, said he was surprised by the charges against his sibling because neither Omar nor anybody in their family had ever expressed any support for the Islamic State.
“Nobody likes ISIS at all. Nobody supports ISIS at all,” Saeed Al Hardan, 37, who also lives in Houston, told The Associated Press on Friday. Saeed Al Hardan, who speaks Arabic, spoke in English during the interview but also had a friend translate for him.