Federal prosecutors in Louisiana have charged Mahmoud Amin Ya'qub al-Muhtadi with participating in the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led attack on Israel, and for entering the United States on a fraudulent visa.
Laid out in a criminal complaint filed Oct. 6 in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Louisiana, the allegations appear to mark one of the first instances in which a lower-ranking terrorist was charged in a U.S. court for involvement in the attack.
According to the complaint, al-Muhtadi is accused of having "actively participated" in the Oct. 7 attack by joining a terrorist group linked to Hamas. Prosecutors say he engaged in preparatory acts before the incursion — including surveillance, logistics, and communications support — and was part of the group's operational chain.
They further allege that he traveled to the U.S. under false pretenses, using fraudulent documentation to obtain a visa and evade detection by immigration authorities.
Palestinian terrorists killed approximately 1,200 people in Israel during the attack, including some who were American citizens, and took about 250 others back to Gaza as hostages.
Once in the U.S., prosecutors say al-Muhtadi concealed his ties to Hamas and did not disclose his participation in militant activity. During his entry interview, he provided statements inconsistent with the truth, the complaint alleges, and failed to reveal his membership in a designated terrorist organization.
Prosecutors contend these acts violate federal laws governing terrorist activity, visa fraud, and providing material support to foreign terrorist organizations.
The complaint also documents a careful trail of travel and aliases. Prosecutors say al-Muhtadi moved through third countries before arriving in the United States, seeking to conceal his identity and militant background.
Investigators traced communications and financial links tying him to Hamas operatives abroad, and they say that at times he used alternative names to evade detection.
In supporting affidavits attached to the complaint, law enforcement officials described his role within Hamas as not merely participation on the battlefield, but as involvement in the overarching structure of planning and coordination.
The complaint calls him a "high-value target" whose presence in the U.S. posed "a grave threat to national security."
Citing inmate records, The New York Times reported that a 33-year-old man with the same name was being held at St. Martin Parish Correctional Center, near Lafayette, Louisiana, where al-Muhtadi lived, as of Thursday.
Al-Muhtadi was reportedly expected to make an initial appearance before Magistrate Judge David J. Ayo on Friday, and it was unclear whether he had retained an attorney.
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