Overview
- Mohammad Baqer Saad Dawood Al‑Saadi appeared in Manhattan federal court Friday after a transfer from overseas custody and was ordered detained on six terrorism counts.
- Prosecutors say he helped plan or claim at least 18 attacks in Europe and two in Canada that targeted Jewish people and U.S. or Israeli interests, including arson at synagogues, bank bomb attempts, and the stabbing of two Jewish men in London.
- Court filings allege he tried to hire what he thought was a cartel operative to bomb a New York synagogue and to strike Jewish centers in Los Angeles and Scottsdale, sharing maps and photos and sending a down payment.
- Officials describe Al‑Saadi as a senior Kataib Hezbollah figure tied to Iran’s Revolutionary Guard and say he pushed operations and propaganda under a front group known as HAYI, with the FBI crediting an overseas transfer of custody for bringing him to the U.S.
- His lawyer says Turkish authorities detained him and handed him to U.S. agents without a chance to contest the handover and now challenges his confinement conditions, as investigators pursue related threats to Jewish communities.