Jordanian sentenced to six years in US prison for anti-Israel attacks
WASHINGTON, May 1 (Reuters) - A Jordanian national in Orlando, Florida, was sentenced to six years in U.S. federal prison for threats against and attacks on businesses over their perceived support for Israel, the U.S. Justice Department said on Thursday.
WHY IT'S IMPORTANT
Rights advocates have noted rising threats in the U.S. against Jews, Muslims, Arabs, Palestinians and Israelis since the start of U.S. ally Israel's war in Gaza after an October 2023 attack by Palestinian Hamas militants.
CONTEXT
Hashem Younis Hashem Hnaihen, 44, described by prosecutors as "a Jordanian national residing illegally in Orlando," broke into a solar power generation facility in Wedgefield, Florida, in June 2024, according to prosecutors. He caused more than $450,000 in damage, the Justice Department said in a statement.
He also broke doors and threatened other businesses.
He was arrested in July 2024, charged in August and pleaded guilty in December.
KEY QUOTES
"According to court documents, beginning around June 2024, Hnaihen targeted and attacked businesses in the Orlando area for their perceived support for Israel," the Justice Department said.
"Wearing a mask, under the cover of night, Hnaihen smashed the glass front doors of businesses and left behind "Warning Letters.""
Reporting by Kanishka Singh in Washington; Editing by Cynthia Osterman
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Reuters
2 hours ago
- Reuters
US Justice Department 'weaponization' reviews spark calls to drop prosecutions
WASHINGTON, June 10 (Reuters) - As the federal public corruption prosecution of former Tennessee House Speaker Glen Casada neared trial this spring, his lawyers made one last effort to kill the case, by petitioning senior Justice Department officials that it was "weaponization," according to three people familiar with the matter. Under President Donald Trump, the department in February created a "Weaponization Working Group" meant to identify improper politically motivated cases, a response to what the Republican says without evidence was the misuse of prosecutorial resources against him under his Democratic predecessor, Joe Biden. In court filings, prosecutors said that Casada's lawyers met with a senior Justice Department official on March 24, where they alleged the "Deep State" had initiated a "weaponized" prosecution and they sought dismissal of the charges. The plan almost worked, according to three people familiar with the matter. With the Deputy Attorney General's office poised to kill the case, prosecutors in the Justice Department's Public Integrity Section pushed back, reviewing their evidence with the higher-ups, the sources said, adding that the Nashville U.S. Attorney's office and the Criminal Division also supported the case. The request was rejected the next week, according to court filings. Both Casada and the DOJ declined to comment. The case is among at least seven Reuters identified where defense attorneys or Justice Department officials have sought to have prosecutions reviewed for possible dismissal, citing Trump's "weaponization" argument or making other arguments about weaknesses in the cases. In a Tuesday speech, Acting Assistant Attorney General Matthew Galeotti urged defense attorneys to be "conscientious about what, when and how" they appeal prosecutors' decisions. "Seeking premature relief, mischaracterizing prosecutorial conduct, or otherwise failing to be an honest broker actively undermines our system," Galeotti said. The increase in lobbying started not long after the Weaponization Working Group was created, and after the department's February decision to dismiss criminal corruption charges against New York City Mayor Eric Adams, six sources familiar with the dynamic told Reuters. To date, the Adams case is the only one to be dismissed over 'weaponization,' three of those sources told Reuters. The lobbying wave comes as the Trump administration has dramatically scaled back the Justice Department's Public Integrity Section, reduced the size of its foreign bribery unit and advised department attorneys that tax enforcement is "not a priority," two of the people familiar with the matter said. A department spokesman said the DOJ will "continue to enforce our nation's tax laws." Trump has said the changes are necessary to root out Justice Department lawyers he derides as 'hacks and radicals' for prosecuting him and some supporters while he was out of power. The working group is empowered, opens new tab to review any 'civil or criminal enforcement authority of the United States' exercised under Biden. A lawyer for Robert Burke, a former Navy admiral who was convicted in May on bribery charges, wrote to the department ahead of trial raising concerns about witness credibility, which failed to convince prosecutors to drop the case. Now the lawyer, Tim Parlatore -- a former Trump defense lawyer -- plans to seek a pardon. "I would be crazy not to at least inquire about a pardon," Parlatore said. Another example is a case involving billionaire Britannia Financial Group founder Julio Martín Herrera-Velutini, who is facing an August trial alongside Puerto Rico's former governor on bribery charges. Herrera-Velutini is represented by former Trump defense attorney Chris Kise, who has sought to convince the Justice Department to dismiss or reduce the charges, though the outcome of such efforts is unclear, three people familiar with the case told Reuters. Kise did not return requests for comment, and Reuters could not determine what arguments he has made to the department about the case. While many of the reviews of cases are spurred by aggressive lobbying, some requests are coming from within the DOJ. In early February, prosecutors in the department's Tax Division were ordered by senior Justice Department officials to write a memo explaining why the prosecution of Paul Walczak was not an example of "weaponization," two of the people familiar with the matter told Reuters. Walczak, of Florida, pleaded guilty in November to not paying employment taxes and not filing his individual income tax returns, and the trial team was preparing for his sentencing. Prosecutors were baffled, the people said, and only discovered after a few Google searches that Walczak's mother Elizabeth Fago was a Trump donor who, according to a New York Times report, hosted a political fundraiser where portions of a diary written by Biden's daughter Ashley were circulated. The department let the case proceed, and Walczak was sentenced to 18 months in prison. Trump in April spared him any prison with a pardon, which according to the New York Times, was handed down shortly after Fago attended a $1 million fundraising dinner for Trump. The White House did not respond to a request for comment on the pardon. An attorney for Walczak said he was unaware of any interactions by the defense team with the Weaponization Working Group. In a statement, the Fago and Walczak families said media reports have painted an "incomplete and inaccurate" picture of the pardon application, and that Trump had "ample grounds to grant the pardon on the merits." Although no criminal prosecutions have been dismissed, prosecutors are bracing for impact since Trump in May named Ed Martin, a supporter of Trump's false claims that his 2020 election defeat was the result of fraud, to lead the working group and serve as pardon attorney. Martin has already successfully encouraged Trump to approve pardons for some of the president's supporters, according to his social media posts. Casada, who was convicted at trial in May on multiple counts of fraud, money laundering and bribery, is now expected to seek a pardon, a person familiar with the matter said. "We've also been getting more folks coming forward within the government as well as outside, saying, 'Can you look at this? Can you look at that?'" Martin recently told reporters. "It's a problem that seems to be growing faster than we can capture it."
Reuters
2 hours ago
- Reuters
What are the 'less lethal' weapons used by law enforcement in Los Angeles protests?
WASHINGTON, June 10 (Reuters) - Law enforcement officials in Los Angeles began deploying "less lethal" munitions on Sunday as they clashed with crowds protesting federal immigration raids. "Less lethal" or "less-than-lethal" weapons are designed to cause pain and discomfort, normally to disperse hostile crowds, but have caused serious injury and death in the past. Here is a list of the less lethal weapons that have been deployed in Los Angeles in recent days, according to Reuters witnesses and the Los Angeles Police Department. Media outlets, and a reporter hit in the leg by a projectile on Sunday, have said LAPD officers have been firing rubber bullets, a metal casing covered in rubber. In fact, the LAPD do not use rubber bullets, the department told Reuters. Instead, the LAPD uses foam rounds, a condensed sponge projectile that resembles a hard Nerf ball. One version, which has a plastic body with a hard foam nose, is fired from a 40mm launcher and usually aimed directly at a target. A second version, fired from a 37mm launcher, disperses five foam baton rounds toward the ground in front of a hostile crowd once an unlawful assembly has been declared, before bouncing up into the crowd. It is not to be fired directly at individuals, the LAPD said. Both are designed to cause pain on impact without penetrating the skin. Police are forbidden from aiming sponge rounds at the head, neck, groin, and spine. Bean bag rounds are normally 37mm cloth bags filled with 1.4 oz of lead or rubber pellets. They are fired from shotguns and spread out as they fly toward the intended target. They are designed not to penetrate the skin but to cause an impact hard enough to render a target temporarily immobile. Flash bangs, otherwise known as "distraction devices" or "noise flash diversionary devices," produce an ear-piercing bang and bright light to disorient targets by temporarily disrupting their sight and hearing. They are often used to target protesters who have become violent in a section of a crowd, and also to allow police to enter a section of a crowd to extract offenders. One type of flash bang device that has been used in Los Angeles is the 40mm aerial flash bang. These are launched into the air and ignite above the heads of protesters. Tear gas, one of the most common riot control tools, is designed to temporarily incapacitate people by causing excessive irritation to the eyes, nose, lungs, and skin. It can cause temporary blindness, streaming eyes and nose, coughing, chest tightness, and difficulty breathing. Tear gas canisters usually contain CS gas, a chemical compound, or OC gas, which stands for oleoresin capsicum, the active ingredient in pepper spray. Pepper spray, which has similar impacts as tear gas, is sprayed from a handheld canister and is often used when police come into close quarters with rioters or are engaged in hand-to-hand encounters. It mainly irritates the eyes, causing temporary blindness. Pepper balls mirror the effects of pepper spray, but are delivered in a projectile similar to a paintball. On impact, it bursts open, releasing powdered OC into the air. Police often do not fire pepper balls directly at a person, but at street signs, onto buildings or into the ground to cause them to burst open. Known as the oldest less lethal weapon, the baton has been used for crowd control for decades. Police officers have been using batons to push and strike protesters in recent days.
The Guardian
3 hours ago
- The Guardian
Greta Thunberg accuses Israel of kidnapping her and fellow aid boat crew
The Swedish activist accused Israeli authorities of 'kidnapping us in international waters and taking us against out will to Israel' after security forces intercepted boat carrying humanitarian aid bound for Gaza. 'This is yet another intentional violation of rights that is added to the list of countless other violations that Israel is committing,' Thunberg told reporters on arrival at Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris after being deported. She stressed that her own experience was 'nothing compared to what the Palestinians are going through'
