Justice Department Charges Six Senior Hamas Leaders

On Sept. 3, the Justice Department unsealed indictments against six senior leaders of Hamas, a designated foreign terrorist organization. 

The government charged each of the defendants with the following: 

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.

The defendants, each of whom are either deceased or remain at large, include Yahya Sinwar, the leader of Hamas and one of the founders of the al-Qassam Brigades; Ismail Haniyeh, the former chairman of Hamas’s Politburo from 2017 until his reported death on July 31; Mohammad Al-Masri, the commander in chief of the al-Qassam Brigades from 2002 until his reported death on July 13; Marwan Issa, the deputy commander of the al-Qassam Brigades from around 2007 until his reported death on March 10; Khaled Meshaal, the chairman of Hamas’s Politburo from approximately 2004 to 2017 and current head of Hamas’s diaspora office; and Ali Baraka, Hamas’s head of National Relations Abroad since about 2019.

Read the complaint here or below: