Bolingbrook Man Who Tried to Join ISIS Knows Plan Was 'Unrealistic'

BOLINGBROOK, IL — A psychiatrist who examined a Bolingbrook man accused of trying to join the Islamic State said in a court filing that an extended prison sentence could radicalize him again after he realized that his plan was “idealistic and unrealistic.”

According to an Associated Press report published by the Daily Herald, psychiatrist Stephen Xenakis advised therapy and a sentence that would put Mohammed Hamzah Khan back on the streets next year, claiming that Khan knows his plans were unlikely to come to fruition.

In October 2015, Khan pleaded guilty to attempting to provide material support to ISIS. He is facing up to five years in prison, a sentence agreed upon by federal prosecutors only if Khan continues to cooperate with law enforcement. Khan’s lawyers have requested a 3-year sentence with time served. They claim he will enter college once out of jail, according to the report.

Khan was arrested in early October 2014 at O’Hare International Airport as he attempted to board a flight to Vienna, Austria with his younger siblings.

Prosecutors say that Khan’s 17-year-old sister and 16-year-old brother had accompanied him to the airport and "wanted to wage violent jihad with the Islamic state.” The teens were questioned by the FBI, but not charged.

Court documents allege that a search of Khan’s Bolingbrook home yielded notebooks outlining his plans to support the terrorist group. The teen also allegedly told FBI agents that he met a person online who was to provide him with an ISIS contact when he arrived in Istanbul.

According to a complaint filed against Khan in federal court, a letter from the teen to his parents urged them not to tell authorities.

Among documents found during a search of Khan’s Bolingbrook home was a page in a notebook allegedly saying, in Arabic, “Islamic State in Iraq and Levant. Here to stay. We are the lions of war ...,” according to the complaint filed against the teen. Another page showed a drawing of what appeared to be an armed fighter with the ISIL flag behind him and the words, “Come to jihad,” prosecutors allege.

A letter allegedly left for Khan’s parents told them “FIRST and FOREMOST, PLEASE MAKE SURE NOT TO TELL THE AUTHORITIES,” and stated that he had an “obligation to ‘migrate’ to the ‘Islamic state,’” and that he was upset that he was obligated to pay taxes to the U.S. “that would be used to kill his 'Muslim brothers and sisters,’” the complaint alleges.

Thomas Anthony Durkin, Khan’s attorney, said that “Khan’s desire to join a caliphate, while perhaps misguided, amounted to an expression of his religious freedom.”

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