A selection from the expansive First Superseding Indictment in U.S. v. Hakim (E.D. Mich.), filed on October 21, contends that a conspiracy existed to transmit threats across state lines and, for two defendants, to intimidate witnesses and damage property to hinder seizure. Eight of the twelve named defendants had previously been indicted in May. The targets encompassed University of Michigan officials and affiliated enterprises, as well as the Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Detroit.
The accused are individuals tied to the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. In the aftermath of the Hamas attacks on Israel on October 7, 2023, the defendants and unnamed conspirators devised intricate schemes to threaten University of Michigan leaders, law enforcement, and businesses with coordinated criminal acts. Their objective included pressuring the university and other entities to sever any perceived ties with the State of Israel.
To pursue this objective, the defendants and their unnamed conspirators—operating within the Eastern District of Michigan and beyond—employed encrypted messages, social media, and international collaboration platforms to research, target, and strike their victims. They then posted images of their actions on social media, along with additional threats and warnings. Their criminal activity encompassed spray-painting threats, smashing windows, and hurling glass jars filled with noxious substances into family homes. They marked their victims with threatening symbols associated with Hamas, such as red inverted triangles and red handprints. They used the internet and social networks to broadcast their message to ensure that their threats and commitment to ongoing criminal activity reached both their targets and supporters of Israel….
The defendants and unindicted conspirators coordinated and plotted their wrongdoing using encrypted online group chats, websites, “teach-ins” (seminars intended to spur action), and other gatherings. They also launched an online campaign against their targets via social media platforms (Twitter/X and Instagram) that were, at times, linked to student groups at the University of Michigan, including the former Students Allied for Freedom and Equality (SAFE) (the university’s chapter of “Justice in Palestine”) and the TAHRIR Coalition.
Around October 20, 2023, the defendants and unindicted conspirators publicly posted a list of demands directed at University of Michigan leadership through social media. Among other things, they called for a comprehensive divestment from the State of Israel and any business supporting it. Dissatisfied with the university’s reply, the conspirators indicated a readiness to act through what they termed “autonomous actions.” These actions included forcibly entering and occupying university buildings, defacing properties, and disrupting campus events. The conspirators also posted online threats that included depictions of their planned actions.
Around May 2024, the defendants and unindicted conspirators took part in a “Gaza Solidarity Encampment” at the University of Michigan. Local police recorded twenty-six criminal incidents connected to the encampment. During the encampment, the defendants and conspirators used online channels to signal that they sought inspiration from martyrs and freedom fighters, claiming that the student intifada would not be silenced. They aspired to gain the notoriety associated with the Weather Underground, a domestic extremist group from the 1960s.
When the university ordered the encampment removed, the defendants and conspirators shifted their focus to individual targets for their “autonomous actions.” They held meetings to coordinate and identify specific targets, including University of Michigan leadership, businesses, and anyone they believed supported—directly or indirectly—the State of Israel.
The defendants and unindicted conspirators used the internet to research personal addresses, photographs, political and social connections, business ownership, and other private details. They conducted surveillance on their targets and engaged in counter-surveillance of law enforcement. They discussed methods for harming their targets and their families, including poison, bombs, and psychological torment. For example, around May 21, 2024, D-3 Paige Elizabeth Feyock and D-4 Ahmet Kerem Korkaya (a medical student at the time) exchanged messages agreeing to kill, torment, and terrorize their targets.
From roughly October 2023 through April 2025, the defendants and unindicted conspirators targeted people and entities in the Eastern District of Michigan and elsewhere, including the University of Michigan’s President, Chief Investment Officer, Provost, and members of the Board of Regents and their business interests; a University of Michigan police officer; Rolls-Royce Solutions America, Inc.; Maersk, Inc.; and the Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Detroit.
The conspirators recruited participants to join them in their “autonomous actions.” Their planning activities included purchasing supplies, convening meetings to coordinate and distribute materials, mapping routes, conducting surveillance, and using online collaboration tools to draft threats against their targets.
As part of the conspiracy, the defendants and unindicted conspirators traveled at night to the targeted homes and businesses. They damaged and defaced properties with spray-painted messages, threats, and symbols—including inverted triangles, red handprints, and phrases associated with anti-Israel sentiment. They left demand notes containing further threats, caulked doors shut, installed bike locks at entry points, shattered windows, and hurled glass jars filled with butyric acid and dye into the targeted homes.
They photographed the destruction and posted the images online along with “official statements” and additional warnings and threats such as “you cannot hide” and “we only come back stronger.” …
On or about April 7, 2024, through on or about April 18, 2024, D-2 Amatullah Aliasgar Hakim, D-3 Paige Elizabeth Feyock, Unindicted Co-conspirator One (UCC-1), and others used CryptPad.fr to craft an agenda focused on targeting the Board of Regents. The plan called for “more deep-diving on all of regents.” In the section labeled “House visits,” the notes warned to “Be cautious about timing – middle of the night might appear more threatening.”
On or about May 15, 2024, at approximately 5:53 a.m., conspirators and others trespassed on [V-1’s] residence in the Western District of Michigan. They littered the yard and porch with small tents, sheets arranged to resemble dead bodies, dismembered and bloody baby dolls, and a broken crib. They attached a demand note to the front door ordering, among other things, that the University of Michigan divest from Israel….
On or about June 3, 2024, at approximately 1:38 a.m., D-1 Zainab Aliasgar Hakim, D-2 Amatullah Aliasgar Hakim, and other conspirators vandalized V-2’s law firm in the Eastern District of Michigan by hurling red paint balloons at the building and leaving red-painted handprints on the windows. They sprayed messages on the building and the sidewalk, including references to divestment and calls for action against supporters of Israel.
On or about October 7, 2024, at approximately 4:20 a.m., D-1 Zainab Aliasgar Hakim, D-2 Amatullah Aliasgar Hakim, D-4 Ahmet Kerem Korkaya, D-5 Jonathan Hongru Zou, and other conspirators vandalized the Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Detroit in the Eastern District of Michigan by spraying inverted red triangles on the sidewalk and building and by painting over surveillance cameras. They left messages on the building and sidewalk expressing anti-Israel sentiment and support for Palestine.
On or about March 15, 2025, Unindicted Co-conspirator Seven (UCC-7) provided D-5 Jonathan Hongru Zou and D-6 Alexander Matthew Sepulveda with a vehicle to drive to V-7’s house—the University of Michigan Provost—where conspirators and others smashed a large window by throwing two glass jars containing an unknown blue substance and food compost at it; one jar landed in a bedroom. They also spray-painted V-7’s house with inverted red triangles and messages such as “DIVEST FREE PALESTINE” and “NO HONOR IN GENOCIDE.”
Thanks to Prof. Howard Friedman (Religion Clause) for the pointer.
