A Pakistani man with alleged links to Iran on Monday pleaded not guilty to charges linked to an alleged plot to assassinate an American politician in retaliation for the killing of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards’ top commander Qassem Soleimani.
Asif Merchant, 46, entered his plea to one count of attempting to commit terrorism across national borders and one count of murder for hire during a hearing before US Magistrate Judge Robert Levy in Brooklyn.
The judge ordered that Merchant be held in custody pending trial.
Federal prosecutors say Merchant spent time in Iran before traveling to the United States to recruit people for the conspiracy.
Prosecutors said Merchant told a confidential informant that he also planned to steal documents from a target and organize protests in the United States.
The defendant had mentioned Donald Trump as a possible target but did not conceive of the plan as involving the assassination of the former president, according to a person familiar with the matter who spoke on condition of anonymity.
The alleged targets are not named in court documents and no attacks have been carried out. As president, Trump authorized a drone strike on Soleimani in 2020.
There is no indication that Merchant was connected to an apparent assassination attempt on Trump at a Florida golf course on Sunday, or to a separate shooting at the Republican presidential candidate at a rally in Pennsylvania in July.
Merchant wore an olive-colored prison T-shirt over an orange undershirt during his hearing, and had a jet-black beard.
He has been held at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn since his arrest in Texas on July 15.
Defense attorney Abraham Moskowitz objected to prison conditions during the hearing.
He said Merchant was kept in solitary confinement, allowed outside for exercise only once every two months, and had lost 15 to 20 pounds (6.8 to 9.1 kg) because prison authorities would not provide him with a halal diet suitable for Shia Muslims.
“It’s literally torture,” Moskowitz said.
Prosecutor Sarah Winick said she would talk to the Bureau of Prisons to make sure Merchant gets an adequate diet.
The bureau did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Iran’s mission to the United Nations said in August that the “methodology” described in Merchant’s court documents was contrary to Tehran’s policy to “prosecute legally the murder of General Soleimani.”
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
