FLASH
Shkruar nga Pamfleti
A Pakistani businessman accused of plotting to assassinate Donald Trump told a federal jury on Wednesday that he was forced into the plot by Iran's Revolutionary Guard, who he said threatened his family to force him to cooperate.
Asif Merchant, 47, testified in his own defense in Brooklyn federal court, where he faces charges of terrorism and conspiracy to commit murder. Speaking through an Urdu translator, he told jurors that he only agreed to join the plot out of fear for his wife and adopted daughter, who were in Tehran.
"I didn't want to do this willingly, " he declared.
According to Merchant's testimony, an Iranian Revolutionary Guard official, identified as Mehrdad Yousef, had instructed him to travel to the United States in 2024 and recruit people to carry out a four-part operation: organizing protests, stealing documents, laundering money, and organizing an assassination.
Merchant said that during the talks in Tehran, no order was given to kill a specific person, but that three possible targets were mentioned: Donald Trump, then-President Joe Biden and former Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley.
The people he thought were hitmen, to whom he had been given $5,000 in cash, turned out to be undercover FBI agents. In a recording filed in court, Merchant is heard telling them that he needed someone who “could possibly kill someone,” a political figure whose identity, he said, had not yet been revealed to him.
The defendant also stated that he quickly realized he was under surveillance upon arriving in the U.S. When immigration agents stopped him in Houston and searched his luggage and electronic devices, he said he realized the authorities were monitoring him. However, he claimed he continued with the plan out of fear that Iranian services might harm his family in Tehran if he backed out.
Federal prosecutors have rejected this version, arguing that there is no evidence to support the claim that he acted under duress. They point out that Merchant admitted that he knew he was collaborating with a designated terrorist organization and that he was recorded discussing the plan in a Queens hotel, without knowing he was being filmed.
The prosecution's case also relies heavily on information from an FBI informant, Nadeem Ali, a person Merchant considered trustworthy.
Merchant was arrested on July 12, 2024, in Texas as he prepared to return to Pakistan. The trial began last week. During the same period, the United States and Israel launched attacks on Iran, which reportedly killed Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Commenting on Khamenei's death, Trump also referred to an alleged plot against him, telling ABC News: "I got him before he got me."
Iran has denied targeting Trump or other US officials.
Lini një Përgjigje