CRIME

Judge to rule on detention for Chicago area teen charged with trying to join Islamic State

Associated Press
Published | Updated

The parents of Mohammed Hamzah Khan, a 19-year-old U.S. citizen from Bolingbrook, Ill., leave the Dirksen federal building Monday, Oct. 6, 2014 in Chicago. Their son, Mohammed Hamzah Khan, was was arrested Saturday at O'Hare International Airport, from where he intended to travel to Turkey so that he could sneak into Syria to join the Islamic State group, according to criminal complaint released Monday. Khan is charged with attempting to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization. A federal judge has ordered him held until a detention hearing Thursday. (AP Photo/Sun-Times Media, Al Podgorski) MANDATORY CREDIT, MAGS OUT, NO SALES (The Associated Press)

The parents of Mohammed Hamzah Khan meet with the family's attorney Thomas Dirkin, left, before Khan's detention hearing in federal court in Chicago on Thursday, Oct. 9, 2014. The 19-year-old suburban man, accused of seeking to travel to Syria to join Islamic State militants, is charged with attempting to provide material support to foreign terrorists. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast) (The Associated Press)

The parents of Mohammed Hamzah Khan arrive for their son's detention hearing in federal court in Chicago on Thursday, Oct. 9, 2014. The 19-year-old suburban man, accused of seeking to travel to Syria to join Islamic State militants, is charged with attempting to provide material support to foreign terrorists. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast) (The Associated Press)

A federal magistrate judge will decide if a 19-year-old U.S. citizen from suburban Chicago accused of trying to travel to Syria to join Islamic State militants should stay behind bars pending trial.

Mohammed Hamzah Khan's detention hearing in federal court in Chicago Thursday follows his Saturday arrest at O'Hare International Airport as he attempted to board a plane to Turkey.

Prosecutors filed a motion Wednesday evening asking Judge Susan Cox to close part of Thursday's hearing to the public. Their explanation was itself sealed.

Investigators said Khan left a letter for his parents in his bedroom at the family's Bolingbrook home expressing disgust with Western society.

He's charged with attempting to provide material support to foreign terrorists. A conviction carries a maximum 15-year prison term.