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MANHATTAN (CN) — A dual Iranian-Iraqi national, charged with coordinating nearly 20 terror attacks and attempted attacks throughout Europe and the United States, spoke out against the U.S. when pleading not guilty to an eight-count indictment on Monday.
“I am not guilty,” Mohammad Baqer Saad Dawood al-Saadi, proclaimed through an Arabic translator, adding, “our children are being killed by your rockets.”
Standing and gesturing, the 32-year-old also told the court that he was a prisoner of war. But U.S. District Judge Colleen McMahon cut him off mid-rant, telling him to address her through his attorney. A U.S. Marshal forced al-Saadi back to his seat.
Al-Saadi made similar claims through his defense attorney at his initial appearance on a criminal complaint less than three weeks ago. Since then, federal prosecutors have secured a grand jury indictment charging him with commanding the Kata’ib Hizballah, a militia group tied to Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps.
Prosecutors say al-Saadi had a close relationship with Qasem Soleimani, a high-ranking Iranian military official killed by a U.S. drone strike in 2020. Per the indictment, al-Saadi told investigators after his capture that he was “like a son” to Soleimani.
He also had a relationship with former Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, whom the U.S. killed in a strike earlier this year, according to the government.
“Approximately three days before the Iranian Military Conflict began and Khamenei was killed, al-Saadi met with Khamenei in Iran and warned him about a potential U.S. strike against Iran,” the government claims.
Prosecutors say al-Saadi coordinated acts of terror in the aftermath of that killing as revenge for U.S. intervention in the region. Those attacks included a double-stabbing against Jewish men in London and a firebombing of a bank in Amsterdam.
Al-Saadi is also accused of plotting unsuccessful attacks on U.S. soil — specifically on a New York synagogue and two prominent Jewish centers in Los Angeles, California, and Scottsdale, Arizona.
The government says it found video evidence of the successful attacks on al-Saadi’s phone, some of them which he recorded in real time. In April, he sent videos of a FaceTime call he was having with at least two people who were actively involved in an arson attack against a London media organization, according to the indictment.
That same month, prosecutors say al-Saadi was spotted on another recovered video filming an attack on a London synagogue on FaceTime.
“In the video, the men are on a FaceTime video call with one of the individuals who was about to carry out the London attack, and the FaceTime call is projected onto a large screen against the background of the Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamiyah logo,” the government claims. “In the video, one of the men, in English, instructs the individual on the other end of the call to execute the arson attack, directing that individual to take a lighter and ‘light one in your hand,’ ‘light it’ and ‘throw the fourth one.’”
Federal investigators also claim to have found at least one video of al-Saadi meeting with Soleimani and another U.S.-designated terrorist, per the indictment, in what appeared to be an “underground operations center” plastered with maps of Syria.
Al-Saadi was arrested in Turkey before being brought to stateside on his criminal complaint in May. While in custody, the government claims he told federal agents that his primary duties for Kata’ib Hizballah were that of a propagandist, waging “psychological warfare” against the United States as part of “the resistance.”
Prosecutors say he made those comments to FBI agents while en route to New York and after waiving his Miranda rights.
Al-Saadi is currently being held in solitary confinement in the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, which his lawyer, federal defender Andrew Dalack, told the judge is causing his client “significant distress.” The ongoing stint follows a roughly two-week stay in solitary at an “underground Turkish prison,” according to Dalack.
“I’m sure it was unpleasant,” McMahon said of the conditions.
The Bill Clinton-appointed judge assured Dalack that al-Saadi will get “all his rights” while in custody. She agreed on Monday to order an Arabic commissary list so al-Saadi can make purchases while in detention. She also appeared open to arranging a consular visit after Dalack revealed al-Saadi may be an employee of the Iraqi government.
Al-Saadi faces a myriad of terrorism-related charges, including conspiracy to provide material support for acts of terrorism, attempted acts of terrorism transcending national boundaries and financing terrorism. He could be sentenced to life in prison, if convicted.
Prosecutors indicated it might take up to a year for the case to go to trial — thanks in part to the potential for classified discovery.
Al-Saadi is due back in court on September 9.
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