March 03--Federal authorities last week returned to the home of a Chicago-area teen accused of trying to travel to join the Islamic State and seized several cellphones and computer equipment apparently belonging to his siblings who are minors and have not been charged, the teen's lawyer said Tuesday.
The search warrant, executed Thursday at the Bolingbrook home of Mohammed Hamzah Khan, involved "communication devices" used by people other than Khan, who has been locked up since his arrest at O'Hare International Airport last fall, his attorney, Thomas Anthony Durkin, said after a brief status hearing in the case.
Durkin told reporters that the list of items seized by the FBI included "cellphones, computers" and other equipment, some of which had been taken during the first search of the home Oct. 4. Agents also searched a family vehicle but did not find anything, he said.
Asked if the latest raid was an indication that the siblings -- -- who were allegedly involved in the plot -- -- remained under investigation, Durkin said, "I think so."
"I'm assuming they were looking at the siblings because they're the only ones left in the house" who had been under investigation, Durkin told reporters.
There was no evidence that the parents knew about the plans, prosecutors have said. As the FBI questioned the siblings at O'Hare in October, agents showed up at the family home, and their mother thought her youngest son was asleep in his room.
A spokeswoman for the U.S. attorney's office declined to comment.
Khan, 19, is charged in a one-count indictment with attempting to provide material support to a terrorist organization, which carries a maximum of 15 years in prison if he is convicted. Prosecutors alleged Khan had persuaded his then-17-year-old sister and 16-year-old brother to fly to Turkey to ultimately join up with Islamic State in Iraq or Syria.
While the teens were being questioned at O'Hare, agents found pro-Islamic State materials as well as letters the teens were believed to have written imploring their parents not to go to the authorities, according to prosecutors.
Khan, who has been held at the Kankakee County Jail, did not appear at Tuesday's status hearing because winter weather forced the cancellation of the prisoner transport bus to the Dirksen U.S. Courthouse in downtown Chicago.
Durkin has argued Khan was brainwashed by Islamic State online propaganda but had no intention of joining in any violent extremism. He said Tuesday that his client was "confused in many ways."
"He does not consider himself a terrorist," Durkin said. "He does not condone the violence of ISIS. He truly wanted to go live in a caliphate."
jmeisner@tribpub.com
