Teenager taken to Syria at 14 charged with terror offences

AN AMERICAN teenager taken by his parents to live in Islamic State’s caliphate in Syria as a minor has been charged alongside his father with terrorism offences, a decision experts yesterday described as “troubling”.

Emraan Ali and son Jihad Ali, 19, appeared in federal court in the US on Wednesday charged with material support for the terrorist group.

Mr Ali, a US citizen born in Trinidad and Tobago, travelled with his wife and six children to Syria in 2015, according to an indictment filed at the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida.

The filing states that Mr Ali asked Jihad, at the time aged 14, if he wanted to join IS. “Jihad was not sure if he could speak freely and go against the desires of his father,” an FBI agent said Jihad later told him during interviews.

The father and son allegedly both received military and religious training and served as fighters for IS.

Jihad, who is facing up to 20 years in prison on charges of conspiracy to provide material support to the terrorist group, was given an AK-47 and assigned to the Anwar al-awlaki brigade, named after the American-born al-qaeda terrorist killed in a 2011 drone strike by the

US. He told the FBI his father made him do the training, which he described as “cool but also scary in parts”, and that he “did not want to attend training because he was scared to be separated from his family”.

The FBI says it has Whatsapp recordings Jihad sent to his mother that prove he took part in fighting.

Jihad claimed he was “listening to radio traffic from the attacks”, but was not “directly involved in the fighting”. He claimed the rhetoric he used in the messages was meant to “impress other fighters near him”.

“This announcement should serve as a warning to those who travel, or attempt to travel, to join and fight with IS,” said John Brown, FBI executive assistant director for national security, of the charges.

Experts said the US Department of Justice’s decision risked stigmatising children who were brought to warzones as minors.

“It’s unfortunate and troubling that he should be held accountable as if he was an adult who chose to go,” said Mia Bloom, professor of Middle East studies at Georgia State University and author of Small Arms: Children and Terrorism.

Mr Ali told the FBI he did construction work for IS and took part in almost no fighting.