Five people arrested at a ramshackle New Mexico compound where one of the suspect's sons was found dead pleaded not guilty Thursday to federal terrorism-related charges and other counts that their attorneys say the group would not be facing if they weren't Muslims. The group had travelled in late 2017 from Georgia to New Mexico, where they built their compound in an area dotted with some of the region's signature "earthship" self-built homes. They also found the remains of 3-year-old Abdul-Ghani Wahhaj, who had suffered from severe medical disabilities that caused seizures. She and the boy's father, Siraj Ibn Wahhaj, had held hours-long prayer rituals over the boy in the days leading to his death. Federal statutes generally only allow for charging parents with abducting their own children in international cases.

Source: ABC News March 21, 2019 08:26 UTC