Lawyers request therapy for teen terrorist

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PHILADELPHIA, June 12 (UPI) -- Lawyers for 18-year-old Mohammad Hassan Khalid requested a federal judge in Philadelphia to transfer the young terrorist to a juvenile treatment facility.

In May, Khalid pleaded guilty to conspiring to recruit jihadists and raising money for terrorists. He currently is in a federal lockup in Philadelphia and faces a 15-year prison sentence with no chance for parole, The Philadelphia Inquirer reported.

Khalid's lawyers want the government to transfer Khalid to a juvenile facility in Harrisburg, Pa., and pay for therapy for the troubled teenager. Defense attorney Jeffrey Lindy argued that therapy for Khalid would ultimately benefit national security.

"He's almost certainly going to be deported," Lindy told U.S. District Judge Petrese Tucker. "Without treatment, he goes back to Pakistan and the same young man is now going to be in Pakistan, where we know what happens with the radical Islam movement."

Prison officials said it is unlikely that Khalid will have his therapy paid for by the state. The Federal Bureau of Prisons does not have a facility to treat juvenile defendants.