Error occured during this request! Please try again later.
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — A father and son appeared in a US court on Wednesday charged with providing material support to the Islamic State (ISIS) terror group.
US citizens Emraan Ali, 53, and Jihad Ali, 19 appeared in a Miami federal court, according to records reported by the Associated Press.
Emraan Ali is charged with providing and attempting to provide material support to ISIS, while his son is charged with conspiracy to provide material support to the terror group.
According to documents released by the US Department of Justice, Emraan Ali took his wife, one stepchild and five children to Syria to join the extremist group in March 2015, living in various areas including Manbij and Raqqa in Syria.
He and his son served as fighters after receiving military and religious training from ISIS. He also arranged for his daughter to marry a British ISIS fighter in 2016, according to the justice department.
They surrendered to the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) near Baghouz in March 2019, officials said. They were recently transferred to FBI custody and returned to the US.
ISIS controlled vast swathes of territory in Syria and Iraq in 2014. With the territorial defeat of ISIS in Syria declared at the beginning of May 2019, the question of what to do with the thousands of people who fought for the group arose, with fears that militants are being allowed to recuperate, regroup and reorganise in both Syria and Iraq.
The group sourced its fighters from all over the world, including western countries.
Estimates on the number of foreign prisoners held in SDF detention vary wildly. While the vast majority of the approximately 10,000 fighters in detention are Syrians and Iraqis, it is believed that some 2,000 foreign fighters are also being held.
US President Donald Trump’s administration have repeatedly called on countries to take back citizens who fought for the group, but few have responded to the call.
Some have refused outright to repatriate any citizens associated with ISIS, including the wives, widows and children of ISIS fighters, while others, such as France, has considered the process on a case-by-case basis.
Authorities in northeastern Syria have called for the establishment of an international court to ensure fast and fair trials for suspects.
Comments
Rudaw moderates all comments submitted on our website. We welcome comments which are relevant to the article and encourage further discussion about the issues that matter to you. We also welcome constructive criticism about Rudaw.
To be approved for publication, however, your comments must meet our community guidelines.
We will not tolerate the following: profanity, threats, personal attacks, vulgarity, abuse (such as sexism, racism, homophobia or xenophobia), or commercial or personal promotion.
Comments that do not meet our guidelines will be rejected. Comments are not edited – they are either approved or rejected.
Post a comment