NEW YORK – Prosecutors say a New York City college student killed fighting for the Islamic State group in Syria made a video trying to clear the name of an Arizona man who was charged with helping him join.
The student's November death was revealed in papers filed Monday and Tuesday in Manhattan federal court. The student was identified in court papers as Samy El-Goarany.
The Arizona man, Ahmed Mohammed el Gammal, was arrested last year and has pleaded not guilty. His lawyers say the video should be precluded from a trial scheduled for December as "overly prejudicial."
Prosecutors say El-Goarany left his parents' home in Middletown, New York, in January 2015, telling them he was returning to his Manhattan college. Prosecutors say he was killed in Syria in November.