Jan. 08--Lawyers for an Aurora man accused of plotting to fly to war-torn Syria and join an al-Qaida-sponsored terrorist group told a federal judge Thursday they have begun preliminary negotiations with federal prosecutors on a possible plea deal.
The development was announced at a routine status hearing for Abdella Ahmad Tounisi, 20, who was charged in April 2013 with providing material support to terrorists after allegedly pledging on a fake recruitment website -- secretly operated by the FBI -- to join Jabhat al-Nusra in the Syrian rebel fight.
He was arrested at O'Hare International Airport as he was about to board a flight to Turkey, where he thought he would meet a handler to get him into Syria, prosecutors said.
Tounisi, who was 18 at the time, has pleaded not guilty.
At Thursday's hearing, Tounisi's attorney, Molly Armour, told U.S. District Judge Samuel Der-Yeghiayan that they have entered "preliminary plea negotiations" with prosecutors. The judge set a status hearing for March 25.
