CHICAGO — A former Islamic charity director from suburban Chicago who must return to the U.S. as a condition of federal probation said he is stranded in the Middle East because he is on the no-fly list.

Enaam Arnaout, 50, received permission from a federal judge in Chicago to travel to the Middle East to visit family. The permission came after Arnaout was released from a 10-year federal prison sentence in July 2010 and placed on supervised release. Arnaout pleaded guilty in 2003 to defrauding donors to his charity, Benevolence International foundation in Palos Hills.

Arnaout is a Syrian-born U.S. citizen who lives in the Chicago suburb of Bridgeview. Prosecutors accused him of having ties to Osama bin Laden, but Arnaout denies he raised money for terrorists.