The U.S. Justice Department announced criminal charges Tuesday afternoon against six senior leaders in Hamas, an Iranian-backed terrorist organization based in Gaza, over their role in carrying out the October 7 massacre against U.S. and Israeli citizens last year.
The six Hamas officials who were charged in the indictment include Ismail Haniyeh, chairman of Hamas’ Politburo; Yahya Sinwar, the leader of Hamas; Mohammad Al-Masri, commander in chief of the al-Qassam Brigades; Marwan Issa, deputy commander of the al-Qassam Brigades; Khaled Meshaal, chairman of Hamas’ Politburo from approximately 2004 to 2017 and who is now the head of Hamas’ diaspora office; and Ali Baraka, 57, Hamas’ head of National Relations Abroad since approximately 2019.
Of the six who were charged, three have been killed in recent months in response to the terrorist attack that they carried out. Those killed include Haniyeh, Al-Masri, and Issa.
The Justice Department said all of the defendants “have orchestrated, overseen, and supported Hamas’s decades-long campaign of terrorism, including the October 7 Hamas Massacres.”
The DOJ highlighted other acts of terrorism that the Palestinian terrorist group is responsible for, including suicide bombings of restaurants, markets, public transportation systems, and other public spaces.
“As of the date of the complaint, over 40 American citizens were among those murdered, and at least eight American citizens were taken hostage or remain unaccounted for,” the statement said. “Most recently, Hamas executed a U.S. citizen who was taken hostage by Hamas during the October 7 Hamas Massacres and remained in captivity until he was murdered.”
Prosecutors said that Hamas’ ability to carry out terrorist attacks is fueled by the Islamic Republic of Iran, “particularly the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and its Qods Force (IRGC-QF) — the element of the IRGC responsible for conducting external terrorism operations and providing support to terrorist groups — which has supported, supplied, and trained Hamas, and by the Lebanon-based Shia Islamic terrorist organization Hezbollah.”
“Hamas raises money to fund its terrorist activities through a variety of methods, including by soliciting and receiving cryptocurrency payments, advertising the ostensible anonymity of such transactions,” prosecutors said, noting that the terror group has raised tens of millions of dollars from supporters around the world, including in the U.S., who have knowingly given money to the group for the intent of financing terrorism.
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Each of the defendants were charged with conspiring to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization resulting in death, which carries a maximum penalty of life in prison; conspiring to provide material support for acts of terrorism resulting in death, which carries a maximum penalty of life in prison; conspiring to murder U.S. nationals outside the United States, which carries a maximum penalty of life in prison; conspiring to bomb a place of public use resulting in death, which carries a maximum penalty of death or life in prison; conspiring to use weapons of mass destruction resulting in death, which carries a maximum penalty of death or life in prison; conspiring to finance terrorism, which carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison; and conspiring to violate the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, which carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison.
Attorney General Merrick Garland said that the indictment was just one part of the U.S.’ efforts to hold Hamas accountable for its acts of terrorism.
