A former US Air Force mechanic pleaded not guilty in New York on Wednesday to attempting to support extremists fighting in Syria, and could face trial as early as July, according to AFP.
Tairod Pugh, 47, appeared before federal Judge Nicholas Garaufis, the burly Muslim convert standing with his hands behind his back, dressed in a navy short-sleeved shirt and khaki trousers.
Garaufis read the bearded Pugh the two-count indictment and then told prosecution and defense lawyers that he wanted a speedy trial.
"I think that an early trial is appropriate in a case such as this and you can pencil in July and start getting all of the evidence and all of the
analysis taken care of," he said.
"It's March. That gives you plenty of time. I'm disinclined to stretch this out beyond the summer."
Pugh was arrested in the United States in January, after being detained at Istanbul airport and deported home.
He spent the previous 18 months living in the Middle East, mostly in Egypt, and allegedly tried to travel to Syria in January weeks after being sacked as a plane mechanic.
He is the fourth man to plead not guilty in Brooklyn in less than a week over alleged plots to join the Islamic State (ISIS) group in Syria.
US intelligence officials say more than 20,000 volunteers from around the world, including more than 150 Americans, have gone to Syria to link up with extremists.
Pugh is charged with attempting to support IS, a foreign terrorist organization, from May 2014 to January, and with obstruction of justice over the tampering of electronic evidence.
He faces up to 35 years in prison if convicted
Garaufis set the next hearing for May 8.
Court papers show Pugh cropped up on the FBI's radar as early as 2001 as an American Airlines employee purportedly sympathetic to Osama bin Laden, the Al-Qaeda mastermind responsible for the 9/11 attacks.
Prosecution documents say he had 180 jihadist videos on his laptop, information on crossing points into Syria and a letter to his Egyptian wife calling himself a "mujahid" -- or holy warrior.
Pugh served in the US Air Force from 1986 to 1990 as an instrument specialist and was trained in aircraft engine, navigation and weapons systems maintenance.
By 2001 -- the year that Al-Qaeda hijacked US passenger jets -- he was working as a mechanic for American Airlines.
Prosecutors say Pugh was stopped by Turkish guards at Istanbul airport after flying in from Egypt on January 10 and was sent back to Cairo.
In Egypt, his laptop was found damaged and inoperable, his iPod wiped clean of data and USB thumb drives also intentionally damaged.
He allegedly told Egyptian authorities that he would rather be deported anywhere in the Middle East because "the US doesn't like black Muslims."