US bail for terror accused
A 20-YEAR-old Sydney man accused of attempting to join terrorist group Islamic State has won a legal battle in the US to be freed on bail.
Asher Khan was arrested in Houston, Texas, in May after US authorities monitored his Facebook page and other communications. He was charged with conspiring to provide material support to IS and prosecutors fought to keep Mr Khan behind bars before his trial.
A US District Court judge granted his release in June, prosecutors appealed, but two of the three judges in the US Court of Appeal have now agreed he should be freed.
Mr Khan, who grew up in Texas, moved to Sydney in 2013 to live with relatives.
In January 2014, he allegedly reached out to a Turkishbased foreign terrorist fighter facilitator.
Mr Khan complained he didn’t “like living in the West any ore”, was sad because he was in Australia “comfortably while (his) brothers” were in “so much hardship” and said he wanted to die a martyr.
He was released on $203,300 bail.