US national appears in court for attempting to join Daesh in Libya

An American national who attempted to join Daesh in Libya is facing trial in the US after being held by authorities in Tunisia for two years, the New York Post reported.

Bernard Augustine, 21, from California, left for Tunisia in 2016 in the hopes of joining and fighting for Daesh in Libya but was intercepted by Tunisian authorities and imprisoned whilst awaiting sentencing.

Augustine had flown from San Francisco on a one way ticket on a Turkish Airlines flight to Istanbul and then had journeyed onto Tunisia where he sent an email to a relative telling them he “is not crazy or mentally ill, and that he is on the path of the fight for justice”.

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US authorities found Daesh propaganda videos on his laptop and found he was an active participant in networks and radicalisation forums. He often searched terms like “jihad” on the internet and “how to join Daesh safely”, according to California television channel KCRA3 News.

According to the New York Post, Augustine appeared at a Brooklyn federal court in New York on Tuesday on charges related to material support to a terrorist organisation which can lead to a sentence of 20 years in prison.