A trial is ongoing for an Avondale resident accused of helping a young man from New York secretly travel to Syria to be trained by the Islamic State.
Ahmed Mohammed el-Gammal is facing federal charges after a 24-year-old man disappeared in 2015 — and died later that year fighting for the Islamic State. El-Gammal and a Turkey-based ISIS sympathizer were allegedly in touch with the young man over social media before his trip to Syria, and El-Gammal even flew to New York in order to help plan the journey.
At trial Thursday, the father of the late Islamic State fighter cried as he told the jury about trying to find his son — and how his wife worried they never would. El-Gammal, the Arizona resident, has pleaded not guilty to charges filed in the U.S. District Court in New York.
