A mother whose teenage son is being charged with trying to join the Islamic State has one demand for the terrorist group: "Leave our children alone!"
Chicago 19-year-old Mohammed Hamzah Khan pleaded not guilty Tuesday to attempting to provide material support to a foreign terrorist group following his recent arrest at an airport when he tried fleeing to Syria by way of Turkey, the Associated Press reported.
After giving his plea, the teen's mother broke down in tears as she denounced the Islamic State, or ISIS, for recruiting and preying on children.
Standing by her husband, Zarine Khan said she felt the need to make a statement in the wake of violent terrorist attacks in Paris last week that left a total of 17 victims dead.
"The venom spewed by these groups and the violence committed by them...are completely at odds with our Islamic faith," Zarine Khan said according to the AP. "We condemn the brainwashing and recruiting of children through the use of social media and the Internet."
Authorities arrested her son at O'Hare International Airport in Oct. 2014 before he boarded a flight to Turkey, which borders Syria. At the time a search of his Bolingbrook suburb home turned up a notebook with a hand-drawn picture of an armed IS fighter along with the group's flag and the words, "Come to Jihad," according to court records obtained by the AP.
Mohammed Khan previously told investigators he maintained an online source who put him in touch with someone in Istanbul who would bring him to the militants.
Khan was tricked into believing the Islamic State established an official government in some parts of Syria and Iraq, Thomas Durkin, the teen's lawyer, said according to the AP.
"We have a message for ISIS, Mr. Baghdadi and his fellow social media recruiters: Leave our children alone!" his mother said, directly addressing ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.
Khan faces 15 years in prison if he is convicted.
