Al-Saadi wants to defend himself in court — The National
In the United States, Mohammad al-Saadi, who is being held at New York’s Metropolitan Detention Centre and is awaiting trial, has expressed a desire to dismiss his lawyers and represent himself. According to The National, his lawyers asked Judge Colleen McMahon to hold a hearing on this intention.
Al-Saadi faces eight charges related to the alleged organisation of nearly 20 attacks and attempted attacks in Europe and the United States. If found guilty, he could face life imprisonment. Defence lawyers said that special administrative restrictions imposed on the defendant had complicated their relationship with their client.
Communication restrictions
According to the US Department of Justice, al-Saadi has been limited to one phone call per month over concerns that he could plan an attack from behind bars. The department claims that during conversations with relatives, he allegedly used coded messages to encourage others to carry out new plans, control transfers totalling $1 million, and the release of propaganda videos.
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The lawyers also said that their client had not received reading materials for a month because the FBI monitors his correspondence. In their view, the inability to explain the delay intensified al-Saadi’s social isolation and contributed to his beginning to consider self-representation as a possible option.
Charges and investigation data
US authorities link the 32-year-old al-Saadi to the group Harakat Ashab Al Yamin Al Islamia, also known as Ashab Al Yamin. According to US records, he was born in Tehran, holds Iranian and Iraqi citizenship, and spent most of his life in Iraq. He was detained in Turkey and then brought to the United States.
Among other things, al-Saadi is accused of attempting to carry out an attack on a synagogue in New York and of seeking a person in the United States who could kill or injure others. Investigators, according to the publication, found FaceTime calls with attackers in his social media accounts, including, according to their data, participants in the arson attack on a synagogue in London on April 18. London police reported that Kenton United Synagogue was attacked that day. The US Department of Justice believes that the defendant poses a serious threat to public safety if he has unrestricted contact with third parties.
