Hearing Resumes For Starkville Man Accused Of Trying To Join Isis

9 a.m.

An attorney representing the family of one of two Mississippi residents charged with trying to travel to Syria to join the Islamic State militant group says the family is “absolutely stunned” by the arrest.

Dennis Harmon represents the family of 22-year-old Muhammad “Mo” Dakhlalla. Harmon said Tuesday that the family has been cooperating with the FBI.

Harmon says the man’s father, Oda H. Dakhlalla, is imam of the Islamic Center of Mississippi in Starkville. He says Dakhlalla is the youngest of three sons and was preparing to start grad school at Mississippi State University.

Harmon says that the FBI searched the home over the weekend and that the family “did not expect this at all.”

Criminal charges were filed Saturday against Dakhlalla and 19-year-old Jaelyn Delshaun Young. They were arrested at a Mississippi airport. The charges say they were headed to Istanbul. A federal hearing is to continue Tuesday.

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3:15 a.m.

A federal court hearing continues Tuesday for two Mississippi residents arrested on charges that they were trying to travel to Syria to join the Islamic State militant group.

Criminal charges filed Saturday say 19-year-old Jaelyn Delshaun Young and 22-year-old Muhammad Oda Dakhlalla were arrested that morning at Golden Triangle Regional Airport near Columbus, Mississippi, just before boarding a flight with tickets bound for Istanbul.

The charges say the two, in online communications, repeatedly told undercover FBI agents they wanted to join the group fighting to create an Islamic state.

An affidavit by an FBI agent says both confessed after their arrest.

Both are charged with attempting and conspiring to provide material support to a terrorist group. It was unclear Monday which lawyers represent them.