A Pakistani man accused of plotting with the Iranian government to murder public officials, including President Trump, was convicted on Friday of a plan that involved hiring hit men, stealing documents and assassinating high-ranking American officials.
According to a report by New York Times, Asif Merchant was found guilty of attempted terrorism transcending national boundaries and murder for hire, after a jury in Federal District Court in Brooklyn deliberated for less than two hours.
The plan orchestrated by Mr. Merchant, according to evidence and testimony presented at a more than weeklong trial, came at the direction of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps. Mr. Merchant, 47, faces life in prison.
Iran enlisted Mr. Merchant to “sow mayhem and murder,” Joseph Nocella Jr., the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District, said in a statement.
Mr. Merchant, wearing a gray pullover and listening through an Urdu interpreter, did not react as the judge, Eric R. Komitee, read the guilty counts on Friday.
Christopher Neff, a lawyer for Mr. Merchant, said in a statement that though his legal team was disappointed by the conviction, there were still “complex and significant legal issues yet to be decided.”
“We remain confident that we will ultimately achieve a favorable result for Mr. Merchant,” Mr. Neff said.
The trial unfolded as the war in Iran began and has expanded, with Iran targeting U.S. military bases and allies in the region, stoking fears of a broader conflict. Last Saturday, the United States and Israel struck Iran, killing its top leaders, including those the United States says have planned assassination plots like the one Mr. Merchant was behind. Mr. Trump has vowed to continue to bomb Iran until the government surrenders.
The NYT report alleges that the case against Mr. Merchant, who was raised in Karachi, Pakistan, but traveled frequently to Iran, provided a rare glimpse in an American courtroom into some of the Iranian government’s efforts. Prosecutors depicted Mr. Merchant as a Shiite Muslim who had become a bumbling spy, enraged by the death of Maj. Gen. Qassim Suleimani, the spymaster behind Iran’s security machine, who was killed by an American drone on Jan. 3, 2020.
The report claims that Mr. Merchant posted photos on Facebook depicting Mr. Trump digging his own grave; a hand holding a decapitated head of Mr. Trump; and Mr. Trump with a pig juxtaposed next to him. On the day that Mr. Suleimani was killed, Mr. Merchant posted mournful images of the general and vowed “severe revenge.”
The evidence that Mr. Merchant plotted with the Iranian government was overwhelming, according to prosecutors, though he never came close to pulling off his scheme. It involved hiring small-time criminals to steal key documents, stage protests at political rallies, launder money and murder American politicians.
Making the unusual decision to testify in his own defense, he admitted on Wednesday that he had been recruited by a member of the Revolutionary Guards Corps to hatch a plot. He described himself as a successful business owner, who demonstrated to his Iranian contacts that he was serious about an assassination plot because he feared for his life.
“I was not wanting to do this so willingly,” Mr. Merchant said on Wednesday.
