A former Queens College student said he helped cover up his older brother’s plans to join ISIS as a “big f–k you” to his family, who saw him as “stupid and complacent.”
Tarek El-Goarany told a Manhattan federal jury that he kept his brother Samy El-Goarany’s whereabouts hidden from his parents after Samy fled to Syria in 2015 — and then lied to the FBI when they came knocking — because he believed Samy had a right to be happy, “just like everybody does.”
Tarek, 24, also did it as an act of rebellion against his family, according to online messages introduced at the trial of Ahmed el Gammal, who stands accused of helping Samy join ISIS.
“Just deny that either of us knows anything and just say a big F–K YOU to the rest of the family,” Tarek had written to his cousin.
In another exchange, he complained that they saw him as “stupid and complacent.”
The feds have accused el Gammal, a small business owner from Arizona, of putting Samy in touch with someone in Turkey who helped him cross into Syria.
Samy died in late 2015, less than a year later, the feds have said.