A former worker on Abdul El-Sayed’s campaign is among 12 pro-Palestinian activists federal prosecutors accuse of targeting members of Michigan’s Jewish community, according to court documents and the US Attorney’s Office.
Mariam Odeh, 24, was one of eight people named in the first wave of indictments. Prosecutors allege the group threatened University of Michigan officials in an effort to pressure the school into ending its relationships with Israel, the US Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Michigan said.
Four additional alleged co-conspirators were indicted Friday, bringing the total number of defendants in the case to 12, federal prosecutors said.
Odeh, who was charged in June over her alleged involvement, previously worked briefly for El-Sayed’s Michigan Senate campaign, The Detroit News reported at the time.
Campaign records reviewed by the newspaper show that Odeh received two payments from the campaign.
An El-Sayed spokesperson confirmed to The Detroit News that Odeh had been hired as an hourly campaign employee for two weeks.
Odeh, a Dearborn, Michigan, native, left the position on April 15 after earning nearly $750, campaign spokesperson Roxie Richner told the newspaper.
CHECK THIS OUT: Kim Kardashian Finally Revealed The Reason She And Kris Humphries' Divorced After 72 Days – NewsFinale
Federal prosecutors allege Odeh was part of a group of pro-Palestinian activists who organized harassment and intimidation campaigns against university officials to push the University of Michigan to sever ties with Israel.
According to prosecutors, members of the group vandalized the homes of university board members, placed fake bodies on lawns and painted anti-Israel messages outside the home of the university’s then-president.
Investigators also allege that participants smashed windows and threw jars containing noxious chemicals into family homes. The alleged incidents were shared on social media alongside the warning, “you cannot hide,” prosecutors said.
Odeh was also allegedly involved in the 2024 vandalism of a Rolls Royce Solutions America, Inc. facility in Detroit, prosecutors said.
The group allegedly secured the building’s doors with padlocks and spray-painted “FREE PALESTINE” and “LONG LIVE THE INTIFADA” on the sidewalk outside.
Odeh faces one count of conspiracy to transmit threats in interstate and foreign commerce. She could receive a prison sentence of up to five years if convicted, The Detroit News reported.
The latest indictments accuse four additional defendants of intimidating university leaders, law enforcement officers and businesses they viewed as connected to Israel. Two of those suspects are believed to remain at large, federal prosecutors said.
Neither the El-Sayed campaign nor attorneys representing Odeh responded to requests for comment before publication.