RELIGION

Arraignment for Chicago-area teen indicted for seeking to join Islamic State militants

Associated Press
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FILE - In this Oct. 9, 2014 file photo Zarine Khan, right, and Shafi Khan, parents of Mohammed Hamzah Khan, attend a news conference after a hearing in their son's federal trial in Chicago. Zarine Khan, mother of the 19-year-old man facing a terrorist charge for trying to join Islamic State militants says the group is "brainwashing" youths via social media. And she declared, "Leave our children alone!" Khan's mother read her statement in a Chicago federal courthouse lobby Tuesday Jan. 13, 2015, minutes after Khan pleaded not guilty plea to attempting to provide material support to a foreign terrorist group at his arraignment.(AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast, File) (The Associated Press)

FILE - This undated passport photo provided by the U.S. Attorney's Office in Chicago, shows Mohammed Hamzah Khan. On Tuesday Jan. 13, 2015, Khan pleaded not guilty to attempting to provide material support to a foreign terrorist group at his arraignment in Chicago. Minutes after Khan entered his plea, his mother Zarine Khan, addressed media in the lobby of the federal courthouse accusing the Islamic State of brainwashing youths into joining their ranks via social media, and she declared, "Leave our children alone!" Zarine Khan, flanked by her husband, Shafi, said her family felt compelled to speak out in the wake of "unspeakable acts of horror" in Paris last week that killed 17. (AP Photo/U.S. Attorney’s Office, File) (The Associated Press)

A 19-year-old suburban Chicago man facing a terrorist charge for allegedly trying to join Islamic State group militants in Syria will have his chance to enter a plea.

Mohammed Hamzah Khan's arraignment Tuesday at federal court in Chicago comes days after a grand jury indicted him on a count of attempting to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization.

Khan lived with his parents in Bolingbrook. He's been in custody since his October arrest at O'Hare International Airport.

Khan was charged in a criminal complaint in October. The indictment returned last week formalizes that charge. A conviction carries a maximum 15-year prison sentence.

Khan's attorney says his client appeared to have fallen under the influence of Islamic State propaganda. But he has also described the government's case as weak.