The feds aren’t pursuing the loss of life penalty in opposition to the primary particular person within the US to be accused of collaborating in Oct. 7 probably as a result of it will be too troublesome to tie him to any particular loss of life, an knowledgeable advised The Put up.
Mahmoud Amin Ya-Qub Al-Muhtadi, a 33-year-old accused Hamas-linked terrorist, was arrested in Louisiana earlier this month for allegedly partaking within the Hamas terrorists’ atrocities on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, particularly by rallying males and weapons and participating in an ambush on Kibbutz Kfar Aza.
The Kfar Aza assaults resulted within the homicide of 60 folks — together with 4 People — and the kidnapping of 19, with a US citizen amongst them, in keeping with criminal-court papers.
He was charged in a two-count indictment with conspiring to offer materials assist to a terrorist group leading to loss of life and with one cost of visa fraud for allegedly mendacity on papers denying his connection to Hamas when he utilized to come back to the US.
The suspect, who US Lawyer Basic Pam Bondi known as “a monster,” pleaded not responsible.
Throughout a listening to in Lafayette federal court docket in Louisiana on Monday, Assistant US Lawyer John Nickel mentioned his workplace wouldn’t search capital punishment in opposition to Al-Muhtadi, in keeping with a report by the Baton Rouge Advocate.
Former federal prosecutor Neama Rahmani advised The Put up the transfer is probably going a strategic and resource-driven one which the Lafayette US legal professional’s workplace made due to how exhausting it will be to tie Al-Muhtadi to anyone particular loss of life — given the proof and witnesses are in Israel, which is at warfare.
To make a bid for the loss of life penalty, “prosecutors need to immediately tie that assist [for Hamas] to a loss of life,” Rahmani mentioned.
“I’m not saying they will’t do it, but it surely’s difficult with a case like this the place many of the witnesses and proof are in one other county, in a warfare zone,” the lawyer mentioned.
He defined that death-penalty instances require two trials: one to find out guilt and one other to resolve the penalty. And death-penalty instances should be appealed in the event that they lead to conviction — all of which makes use of up plenty of time and sources.
“You’ll be able to’t pursue all of them,” Rahmani mentioned of federal prosecutors searching for the loss of life penalty. “And also you need to pursue these which are a positive factor.”
Al-Muhtadi may nonetheless face life in jail if he’s discovered responsible, for the reason that cost of offering materials assist to a terrorism group has been upgraded to offering materials assist to a terrorism group leading to loss of life, Rahmani defined.
Al-Muhtadi, who lived in Gaza on the time, bought his males collectively the morning of the assaults and giddily talked in cellphone calls about how the offensive would spark “a 3rd world warfare,” prosecutors claimed.
Al-Muhtadi led youths within the Nationwide Resistance Brigades, a army wing of the Democratic Entrance for the Liberation of Palestine.
In a sequence of calls main as much as the assault on the Kibbutz, Al-Muhtadi might be heard instructing his males to hitch him, collect weapons and bullet-proof vests and meet him to move into Israel, the feds alleged.
Cell-phone information positioned him within the space of Kfar Aza by 10:01 a.m., only a few hours after the Oct. 7 slaughter started, prosecutors claimed.
On a 8:42 a.m. name with one other man, Al-Muhtadi mentioned, “There may be plenty of [Israel Defense Force soldiers] which were kidnapped.
“It’s a recreation, which will probably be a very good one,” the suspect allegedly mentioned.
“If issues go the way in which they need to, Syria will participate, Lebanon will participate, … It’s going to be a 3rd world warfare … it will likely be a warfare of attritions. That will probably be good,” Al-Muhtadi mentioned through the name, in keeping with the criticism.
Lower than a yr after the invasion, Al-Muhtadi utilized for a US visa, falsely claiming he by no means murdered anybody, he by no means engaged in terrorism and wasn’t aside of such a company, the feds claimed.
He first moved to Tulsa, Okla., on Sept. 12, 2024, and was finally tracked down by US authorities in Lafayette in June 2025.
Al-Muhtadi’s arrest was the primary one within the US of an individual accused of collaborating within the Oct. 7 assaults.
Aaron Adams, the suspect’s lawyer with the Federal Public Defenders, advised The Put up his consumer is presumed harmless till confirmed responsible at trial and blasted Bondi for her public statements in regards to the accused.
“Within the American prison authorized system, all accused are harmless till confirmed responsible in a court docket of legislation,” Adams mentioned within the assertion. “In calling Mahmoud Al-Muhtadi a ‘monster,’ Lawyer Basic Pamela Bondi appears to have forgotten this elementary precept.
“We should keep in mind that no proof has but been introduced in a court docket of legislation supporting the federal government’s allegations. We sit up for addressing these allegations in court docket,” the lawyer mentioned.
Bondi issued an announcement Oct. 17 saying the fees in opposition to Al-Muhtadi, who had been arrested a day earlier.
“After hiding out in america, this monster has been discovered and charged with collaborating within the atrocities of October 7 — the one deadliest day for Jewish folks for the reason that Holocaust,” Bondi mentioned on the time.
The Division of Justice didn’t instantly return a Put up request for remark Tuesday.
