His family saved him from joining the IS. Now he might go to prison.

The 19-year-old pulled out his phone and dialed.

“I want to come home,” Khan told his father, Mohammed Abid Khan, who sat huddled in his living room here with his wife and other children.
Hours later, without ever leaving the airport, Khan boarded a plane and flew home to this Houston suburb.

His family had saved him from an uncertain fate in Syria, but not legal jeopardy in the United States.

Fifteen months later, in May 2015, the FBI charged Khan with conspiracy and attempting to provide material support to the Islamic State. Instead of life inside the caliphate, Khan, now faces up to 30 years in prison

But his defense attorney, Thomas Berg, said that Khan stepped back from an irrevocable decision and has since returned to a moderate path.

“He came home and did the right thing,” Berg said. “If the government was smart, they would exploit that. My kid could go to the mosques and talk about redemption.”

And, Berg said, if Khan is imprisoned, there is no incentive for the next young person having doubts about joining the Islamic State to turn around and come home. The government’s approach, he said, leaves no way back.

Berg would not let a reporter talk with his client.

To the FBI, Khan is an unknown risk, and one that is best mitigated through prosecution. The case is emblematic of the American approach to confronting the Islamic State. While some European countries have decided to treat young radicals returning from Syria as prodigals in need of a deradicalization program of counseling, education and employment, the United States treats Islamic State recruits, even those who make it no further than an airport, as terrorism suspects.

At a detention hearing for Khan in Houston, federal prosecutors opposed bail.

“There are no conditions the government foresees that would enable the safety of the homeland,” said Assistant U.S. Attorney Carolyn Ferko.

A magistrate judge disagreed, placed Khan under house arrest and ordered him to wear an ankle bracelet so that his movements could be monitored.
Prosecutors appealed and told U.S. District Judge Lynn N. Hughes that Khan wanted to die fighting in Syria. They also noted that he had recruited Garcia to fight with the Islamic State.

“A man devoted to become a martyr would not turn around,” said Hughes, who upheld the magistrate’s decision.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit, hearing a further appeal from the government, affirmed Hughes’s decision. Khan’s trial is set for later this year.
Khan’s father said he had read the charges against his son but still didn’t understand what he did wrong. His son turned around, he said, and did the right thing.
“He doesn’t want to go to Syria,” the father said. “That’s what he told us. This is unfair. He did not do anything.”

11:43 AM EDT
There is a problem with the concept of arresting someone because he MIGHT be a threat, maybe, could be. Yes, according to his own admissions, Khan made the trip to Turkey, but he never left the airport and decided the best course of action was to come home to his family.

He then went on to a more American way of life, and maybe he is still a threat, maybe he is just another confused kid.  

But the problem here is what the author commented on. What allowances are there for thought vs action? What happens to the next confused kid who reads that Khan was arrested for COMING HOME and committing no crimes? Will the next kid think he might as well follow thru because the alternative is possibly going to prison?

This is wrong on so many fronts, and we can hope that he is found not guilty since he didn't appear to do anything more than a long plane ride and came back home. What incentives are there to the future 'children terrorists' who decide they miss mom and dad more and want to come back, but choose the radical path because of this?

The FBI can and should put people they worry about on lists.. monitor, but leave them alone until they prove they are a real threat or risk. My son wanted to do all sorts of goofy stuff growing up, the best was becoming a professional poker player. He never did when he realized he wasn't a good poker player, but in this world of detain over thoughts, couldn't my son have been picked up by the IRS for not paying taxes on money he never made because he thought about being a poker player?

Stupid is as stupid does, and this is one of those actions that's pretty stupid. They could have interviewed Khan and a decent psychiatrist would be able to determine if he's a threat. Maybe he is, maybe not, but until he does something illegal, his thoughts are not actions.. How many of us have THOUGHT about doing something bad or terrible? It simply doesn't count to think about it. Do it, go to prison. A huge difference.

11:12 AM EDT
Over-the-top behavior by national security types. We've seen this before with suspected Communists back in the late 1940s and during the 1950s - a take-no-chances, "don't-mess-around" approach. Such types will readily take the risk of wrongful convictions; when it comes to national security the end always justifies the means. They will always proclaim that desperate times requires desperate measures. Then they pray for desperate times to become so empowered.

In our republic, reason must always prevail.

A magistrate judge disagreed, placed Khan under house arrest and ordered him to wear an ankle bracelet so that his movements could be monitored.