Indian-American gets 40-month jail term for helping IS

NEW YORK: An Indian-American man who tried to go to Syria with his teenaged brother and sister to join the Islamic State group was sentenced to 40 months in prison in Chicago.

Mohammed Hazra Khan, 21, on Friday became the first person of Indian origin to be convicted and sentenced in the US for connections with the militant group.

Federal Judge John J Tharp sentenced Khan, who had admitted in court last year to the charges of providing support to the IS and trying to join the terrorist organisation in Syria, Mary B McCord, the acting assistant attorney general for National Security, said in a statement.

The judge in the Northern Illinois federal court also ordered that for 20 years after his release, Khan should undergo intensive supervision that includes “violent extremism counselling” and a mental health treatment programme, she added.

Khan was arrested by anti-terrorism officers two years ago while trying to leave the country from Chicago’s O’Hare Airport, she added. Khan’s brother, who was 16 years old in 2014, and sister, who was 17, were also detained at the airport but did not face any charges and were released after interrogations.

Khan’s family had immigrated from India and had been living in the Chicago area, The Chicago Tribune reported quoting his lawyer Thomas Anthony Durkin.

ABCNews reported that last year his mother had publicly asked IS leaders to “leave our children alone” and asserted: “The venom spewed by these groups and the violence committed by them find no support in the Quran and are completely at odds with our Islamic faith.”

Durkin told the judge that Khan did not intend to wage a jihad against the US but was naive and only wanted to join an Islamic caliphate and live according to Muslim doctrine, according to the Tribune. AGENCIES