HOUSTON – The brother of an Iraqi refugee who had settled in Texas says he's still in shock after learning that his sibling is facing charges 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 California, Aws Mohammed Younis Al-Jayab, to get weapons training and eventually sneak into Syria to fight alongside the terrorist group.
Saeed Faraj Saeed Al Hardan, Omar Al Hardan's older brother, told The Associated Press in an interview Friday that he was surprised by the charges because neither Omar nor anybody in their family had ever expressed any support for the Islamic State.
Omar Al Hardan had come to the U.S. to escape the violence in the family's homeland.
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