A man with ties to a terror group appeared in court to face charges after trying to hire someone to carry out an attack on a New York City synagogue, according to prosecutors.
Mohammad al-Saadi, who has alleged ties to the group Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamiya or HAYI, went before a judge in federal court in lower Manhattan Friday afternoon to face terrorism charges. He was charged with six counts in total, including four charges related to providing material support for terror and two related to the synagogue bombing plot.
Al-Saadi was arrested by Turkish authorities and handed over to U.S. authorities shortly after, landing at Stewart Airport in New York around 11 p.m. Thursday.
Dressed in a black T-shirt, grey pants and black sneakers, al-Saadi was escorted into the courtroom by U.S. Marshalls, who unhandcuffed him as he took a seat at the defense table. His ankles were handcuffed throughout his initial appearance.
As he entered the courtroom, Al-Saadi smiled at several federal law enforcement personnel sitting in the first few rows, and smiled for much of the time he spent in court. He appeared relaxed while leaning back in his chair and whispering to his attorney, a public defender.
His attorney said that al-Saadi wanted the court to know that “he is a political prisoner and should be treated like a prisoner of war.” The attorney went on to say his client was being held in solitary confinement that is “emotionally distressing and inappropriate,” adding that he has not been able to call or talk to his family.
The judge said he was most likely being held separately for his own safety or the safety of others, given the nature of the charges.
According to investigators, al-Saadi has close ties to the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) in Iran, with photos showing him alongside General Qasem Soleimani, who was killed in a U.S. strike in 2020 for ordering attacks on Americans. Al-saadi had allegedly been vowing revenge on the U.S. ever since.
The NYPD said that earlier in 2026, al-Saadi went online to hire someone to place a bomb at a synagogue in Manhattan. But it turned out he unknowingly reached out to an undercover agent, which helped prevent the alleged plot and helped lead to his capture overseas.
The alleged plot came more than two months after the U.S. and Israel launched a war against Iran. With the outbreak of the war, the FBI said al-Saadi helped activate terror cells across Europe to start trying to carry out attacks big and small.
Investigators said al-Saadi helped provide support for the Iraq-based terror group Kata’ib Hizballah to carry out about 20 terror attacks across Europe that targeted American institutions and citizens.
In March, explosives were used against a synagogue in Belgium. More devices were later set off off at Bank of New York Mellon branch in Amsterdam. Weeks later, a Bank of America branch was targeted in Paris. On April 29, two people — including an American — were critically wounded in a stabbing attack in London.
Prosecutors said al-Saadi has been a member of the Iran-backed terror group since at least 2017. He allegedly helped order plots from inside Iraq amid the Iran military conflict, and boasted he wanted to target President Donald Trump.
In a statement to NBC News, the NYPD confirmed confirmed the allegations of a planned terrorist attack.
“Working with our law enforcement partners, we disrupted a plan to attack a Manhattan synagogue, and in partnership with the synagogue’s leadership, ensured its security when the threat was elevated,” NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch said. “The NYPD’s work in this case, from officers assigned to the JTTF, to intelligence analysis provided through our international liaison program, helped protect the streets of our city.”
The commissioner went on to say that the case “puts into stark relief the global threats posed by the Iranian regime and its proxies like Kata’ib Hizballah — Foreign Terrorist Organizations that have repeatedly targeted Jewish communities across Europe and the United States since the war began.”
Al-Saadi remains held behind bars in a federal jail cell in Brooklyn.
Chloe Atkins and Matt Lavietes of NBC News contributed to this report.
0 Comments