Judge wants house arrest for teen in terror case
Prosecutors say Abdella Ahmed Tounisi is a potentially dangerous terrorist who’s been caught on tape saying he wants to die a martyr.
But in a highly unusual move, a judge on Thursday afternoon agreed to release the 18-year-old alleged al-Qaida wannabe from jail and instead place him under house arrest with electronic monitoring at his family’s home in Aurora.
Magistrate Judge Daniel Martin’s unexpected ruling was quickly appealed by the U.S. attorney’s office, however, meaning Tounisi won’t be freed unless U.S. District Judge Edmond Chang approves it at a hearing scheduled for Friday.
The boyish Tounisi, standing just 5 feet 6 inches and weighing only 120 pounds, mostly stood mute during a passionately argued detention hearing Thursday, speaking only in a weak, high-pitched voice to confirm that he could follow proceedings.
“I wonder if you understand the seriousness of this,” Martin sternly told him in front of a packed courtroom at the Dirksen Federal Building.
Arrested on April 19 as he tried to board a plane to Turkey at O’Hare, Tounisi is accused of plotting to join up with the al-Qaida group Jabhat al-Nusrah to fight in Syria.
He’s also accused — though not charged with — helping his best pal, Adel Daoud, select a South Loop bar as a bombing target last year.
In both cases, the terrorist contacts Tounisi and Daoud thought they were plotting with were actually undercover FBI agents, according to court papers.