Pro-Palestine Activists Indicted for Intimidation Campaign
FBI Director Kash Patel has reported the indictment of eight individuals who allegedly engaged in a year-long campaign of intimidation, vandalism, and threats targeting University of Michigan officials, local businesses, and law enforcement. This effort was reportedly aimed at pressuring these entities to sever their ties with Israel.
The Department of Justice (DOJ) outlined that the suspects are accused of various criminal acts, including spray-painting homes with phrases like “Intifada” and “Free Palestine.” Additionally, the indictment details instances where they left threatening notes at victims’ homes and caused significant property damage across eastern Michigan.
“A federal grand jury returned an indictment against Zainab Aliasgar Hakim (Canton, Michigan) (age 23), Amatullah Aliasgar Hakim (Ann Arbor, Michigan) (age 21), Paige Elizabeth Feyock (Ann Arbor, Michigan) (age 26), Ahmet Kerem Korkaya (Milwaukee, Wisconsin) (age 28), Jonathan Hongru Zou (Ann Arbor, Michigan) (age 22), Alexander Matthew Sepulveda (Chicago, Illinois) (age 23), Mariam Muhammed Odeh (Dearborn, Michigan) (age 24), and Colin Hunter Weger (Ann Arbor, Michigan) (age 24),” the DOJ indicated.
Authorities claim that the violence escalated as the group began breaking windows and throwing jars filled with chemicals into homes while children were present. The most intense actions reportedly occurred on October 7, 2024, exactly one year after the Hamas attack on Israel, according to the FBI.
The coordinated campaign spanned from March 2024 to April 2025. During this time, the suspects allegedly used encrypted messaging apps and social media to identify their targets and plan their actions.
As part of this targeted effort, members vandalized the residence of University of Michigan Board of Regents member Jordan Acker in December 2024, damaging a front window and spray-painting his wife’s car with demands for university divestment, along with an inverted red triangle. The university administration later condemned this act, labeling it as antisemitic intimidation.
“These individuals spent over a year allegedly engaging in a targeted, coordinated campaign of violence and intimidation motivated by the October 7, 2023 Hamas terrorist attack on Israel,” Patel stated. “They vandalized property, left threatening messages and even violently attacked homes while children slept inside. The defendants also left demand notes containing additional threats, caulked doors shut, bike-locked entryways, broke windows, and threw glass jars filled with butyric acid and dye into the homes. The defendants took photographs of the destruction and posted them online with menacing statements.”
Patel commended the FBI Detroit team and its partners for their exhaustive investigation and for conducting the multi-state operation early that morning.
