Ahmet Kerem Korkaya, a 28-year-old pro-Palestine activist from Milwaukee, pled not guilty Monday to federal charges that he and seven other students at the University of Michigan conspired to commit acts of vandalism, harassment and threats targeting university officials, local businesses, and the Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Detroit in an effort to get the University of Michigan to sever ties with Israel. Online court records show that Korkaya, who appeared before Magistrate Judge Kimberly Altman for the Eastern District of Michigan, was released on bond. 

A grand jury indicted Korkaya and the other activists including 23-year-old Zainab Aliasgar Hakim; 21-year-old Amatullah Aliasgar Hakim, 28-year-old Paige Elizabeth Feyock, 22-year-old Jonathan Hongru Zou, 24-year-old Mariam Muhammed Odeh, and 24-year-old Colin Hunter Weger — all of Michigan — as well as 23-year-old Alexander Matthew Sepulveda of Illinois.

Korkaya was a student at the Medical College of Wisconsin, where he was studying medical science, with a focus on cancer and tumor immunology, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported. He also conducted research at the University of Michigan in 2023 and 2024, and holds bachelor’s and master degrees from two different universities.

In a press release, the Department of Justice points to public social media posts and activist demonstrations carried out by the group demanding that the University of Michigan enact a “full and complete divestment” from Israel and any businesses supporting Israel. The federal government asserts that when the university didn’t respond the way the group wanted, it engaged in tactics such as occupying university buildings, spray-painting buildings and disrupting university events. 

Some demonstrations involved using red paint to write messages on buildings, to simulate blood staining the hands of demonstrators and on white sheets representing the bodies of some of the at least 75,000  Palestinians killed in Israel’s war on Gaza. Although these were common tactics used by student activists who mobilized across the nation to condemn Israel’s attack on Gaza in late 2023, prosecutors have framed the actions as intimidating. 

Prosecutors also accuse the group of researching home addresses, photographs, business ownership and other details of university leaders. Korkaya and others are accused of discussing ways to “kill,” “torment,” “terrorize,” or “get” these people and their families. The group is also accused of carrying out nighttime actions where businesses and homes were spray-painted with pro-Palestine and anti-Israel messages. Prosecutors highlight that some of the incidents involved the spray-painting of a red upside-down triangle which the government claims is associated with Hamas. The Jewish Federation of Detroit was among the buildings spray-painted, prosecutors say. The group is also accused of throwing jars of noxious chemicals into the homes of people they targeted.

The allegations and evidence were not enough to persuade judges to keep members of the group behind bars as court proceedings continue. In considering the government’s claims that the activists pose a  danger to the community and a flight risk, U.S. District Magistrate Judge Anthony Patti said that the alleged actions were “terrorizing, but not terrorism,” Michigan Advance reported, in a separate hearing last week. 

That hearing was protested by about 50 people, who held signs that said: “Drop the Charges” and “Divest Don’t Arrest. Protesters described the arrests as “witch hunts,” asserting that pro-Palestine activists are being unfairly painted as terrorists by the federal government.

The indictments represent the latest move by the Trump administration to target pro-Palestine activism. In January 2025, shortly after returning to office, President Donald Trump signed an executive order calling for the deportation of international students who attend pro-Palestine protests. Just a few months later at least 300 students had their visas revoked for “destabilizing” college campuses, and federal agents arrested Palestinian student activists including Mahmoud Khalil and Mohsen Mahdawi. This year Salah Sarsour, the president of Milwaukee’s Islamic Society and an outspoken Palestinian activist, was also arrested by federal immigration agents and sent to an Indiana detention center. 

“Our justice system must carefully distinguish between alleged criminal acts and constitutionally protected political advocacy,” Dawud Walid, executive director of the Center for American Islamic Relations Michigan chapter, said in a statement about the arrests.

NSPM-7, a national security order signed by Trump, directs law enforcement members of regional  Joint Terrorism Task Forces  to “investigate, prosecute, and disrupt” groups and individuals with ideologies harboring themes of “anti-Americanism,” “anti-capitalism,” “anti-Christianity,” “extremism on migration, race, and gender; and hostility towards those who hold traditional American views on family, religion, and morality.” 

Numerous law enforcement agencies participated in what the government called a “multi-state operation” in order to arrest Korkaya and the others. Among the participants were FBI field offices in Detroit, Chicago and Milwaukee, as well as 12 local law enforcement agencies including the Milwaukee Police Department, the Michigan State Police, university campus police and public safety, and the Michigan Intelligence Operations Center, which is one of the nation’s Fusion Centers originally designed for homeland security and counter-terrorism functions. 

The Milwaukee Police Department also maintains a Fusion Center. The department would not comment on whether it was involved in gathering intelligence related to Korkaya’s arrest. The FBI office of Milwaukee also wouldn’t comment on whether the arrests are related to NSPM-7, directing the Examiner to the U.S. Attorney’s office in Michigan, which has not responded to a request for comment.

A federal judge heard from attorneys Monday about the treatment of Salah Sarsour, the Palestinian president of Milwaukee’s Islamic Society and a legal U.S. permanent resident who is being held in an Indiana immigration detention facility.

Sarsour’s lawyers say that since arriving at the Clay County Detention Center in Brazil, Indiana, following his arrest by federal immigration agents in March Sarsour has lost 30 pounds, is not receiving appropriate care for his type 2 diabetes, and has been denied the ability to practice his religion. Separate from Sarsour’s immigration proceedings, Sarsour’s attorneys pushed in federal court for his release, arguing that his treatment at the detention center amounted to a First Amendment violation. 

Luna Droubi, an attorney who represents Sarsour, said that U.S. District Judge James Patrick Hanlon listened closely during the Monday status hearing and asked questions about the 53-year-old business owner, activist and grandfather’s experiences. The judge “addressed and directed the facility to take a look at Salah Sarsour’s medical guidance, and I do think he has real concerns about his treatment,” said Droubi, adding that Sarsour “really has been tormented for exercising his religious beliefs.” 

Initially, Droubi explained, “he wasn’t able to pray five times a day; they would disrupt his prayers at certain hours and tell him to stop doing it.” Sarsour’s requests for Halal meals, foods which are considered permissible in Islam, have been denied, and obtaining a makeshift prayer towel proved challenging as well. When he asked for food that would help him maintain balanced blood sugar levels because of his diabetes, Sarsour was offered pork rinds by detention facility staff according to his attorneys, in violation of his religious dietary requirements.

“It’s been a very difficult time for him,” Droubi told the Examiner. “He’s the president of the largest Islamic Center in Milwaukee. … He is a type 2 diabetic and he has very clear medical instructions that he requires daily glucose testing. At today’s hearing, they represented that they had started daily glucose testing and then somebody at the facility was instructed that they only need to do it once a month.” That goes directly against medical guidance, she added, since glucose levels can drop and rise on a daily basis, “and that can be incredibly dangerous.” 

At one point, Droubi said, Sarsour experienced severe abdominal pain and then was told “there’s nothing we can do for it. There’s no medical professional here. You’re going to have to wait until morning.” She stressed that “he couldn’t even stand up, and it’s only been two months. So he’s really, really struggled.”

Since Jan. 1 of this year, there have been 18 deaths of people detained in immigration detention facilities nationwide. This has outpaced the deaths reported last year –  the highest in two decades. This comes as Immigration and Customs Enforcement announced that it will stop reporting the deaths of people who’ve been recently released by detention, the AP reported.

Sarsour’s attorneys argued that there are numerous reasons why Sarsour needs to be immediately released, and that it’s within the federal court’s authority to do so. Droubi said that Sarsour is being held “because of his speech and associations,” and that the arrest was purely punitive for that speech.

Sarsour grew up in the West Bank and became an outspoken critic of the Israeli government and a supporter of Palestinian rights and freedoms as an adult. That activism continued after the militant arm of Hamas attacked Israel in late 2023, killing 1,200 people, followed by a large-scale Israeli assault on Palestinians living in Gaza which has killed at least 75,000 people while displacing thousands more. 

The Department of Homeland Security has repeatedly called Sarsour a “terrorist” who was convicted of throwing Molotov cocktails into the homes of Israeli forces.

“This was an Israeli military kangaroo court,” Othman Atta, executive director of Milwaukee’s Islamic Society, said of Sarsour’s conviction during a community gathering and press conference held in early April after Sarsour’s arrest. “Human rights groups will tell you that these claims are coerced under torture, under interrogation. So absolutely, that’s not true.” At the gathering Atta also said that Sarsour spent two years in Israeli detention as a teenager. “He would talk to us many times how for 80 straight days, he was interrogated, and brutalized, and tortured while he was in Israeli military custody.”

These experiences are widely reported by detained Palestinians. In 2024, United Nations experts found that due process rights for Palestinians in the West Bank, where Sarsour grew up and was detained, had been violated by Israeli authorities for the past 60 years. 

“He is also an illegal alien that lied on his green card application to fraudulently gain legal status in the U.S. under the Clinton Administration,” a DHS spokesperson said in an emailed statement to the Examiner. “Any accusation of discrimination by ICE agents is FALSE. All illegal aliens in ICE custody receive three meals a day and proper medical treatment. Sarsour is a criminal and a terrorist and will remain in ICE custody pending removal proceedings.”

Droubi said that the federal judge is considering the argument for Sarsour’s release. Attorneys representing the government say that the federal court has no jurisdiction over a claim of unlawful detention. 

“He should be home with his family,” Droubi told the Examiner. “He really should.”

Democratic U.S. Senators Tammy Baldwin, Bernie Sanders, and Chris Van Hollen have sent a joint letter to the secretary of  the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), condemning the arrest and detention of Salah Sarsour, the president of Milwaukee’s Islamic Society, and charging that Sarsour has received inadequate medical care Sarsour at an Indiana immigration detention center where he’s being held. 

Sarsour has been detained since late March.  His family and supporters say that Sarsour, a man of Palestinian descent, was targeted for his criticism of the Israeli government’s treatment of Palestinians and the mass slaughter in Gaza. DHS has accused the father and business owner of lying on his green card application more than 30 years ago. 

The federal government has called Sarsour a terrorist who was detained as a teenager for attempting to possess weapons or ammunition. As a boy Sarsour was detained by Israeli forces in the West Bank, where torture and abuse of Palestinian prisoners have been reported for decades, something Sarsour said had happened to him as well. 

In their letter to DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin, Baldwin, Sanders, and Van Hollen called Sarsour a business owner, father, grandfather and a “respected leader in the Milwaukee community.” He has lived in the United States as a legal permanent resident since 1993 and has not acquired a criminal record in that time. 

“We are deeply concerned that Mr. Sarsour was targeted in retaliation for his activism,” the senators wrote. “Through his work with the Islamic Society of Milwaukee and American Muslims for Palestine, Mr. Sarsour has spoken out passionately against the war in Gaza and on issues impacting the Islamic Society. The First Amendment of the United States Constitution guarantees everyone in our country, including lawful permanent residents, the right to speak freely without fear of retribution from the government.”

The senators added that they are concerned about Sarour’s health in detention. “Those in federal custody must be treated humanely and receive the level of care required,” the senators wrote. “Mr. Sarsour is a diabetic and we are concerned that he does not have appropriate access to healthcare, medical supplies, and a healthy diet required to properly manage that chronic condition, including by regularly testing blood glucose.” 

Sarsour has also not been provided “reasonable religious accommodations, such as a prayer mat,” the senators wrote. “He had been using a facility-issued bath towel to perform his prayers, but this was recently confiscated without explanation and Mr. Sarsour has been forced to pray on the facility’s barren floors. This treatment is unacceptable.”

Baldwin, Sanders, and Van Hollen demanded answers to several questions by May 31. They asked DHS to provide documentation that immigration officers relied on when they decided to arrest Sarsour and requested communications with the White House or Office of Budget and Management regarding Sarsour’s detention. 

They also asked whether Sarsour has access to proper healthcare and nutrition, what protocols immigration detention centers have regarding detainees with hyperglycemia or hypoglycemia, whether those protocols are being followed with Sarsour, and what protocols exist for providing detainees with reasonable religious accommodations. 

“Our nation’s founders realized that democracy cannot exist in a nation with a government that restricts or limits the speech and expression of its people,” they wrote. “The Constitution protects an individual’s right to express their political views and have their voice heard. We condemn any attempts by this Administration to use the power of the United States government to unfairly target and punish people for simply disagreeing with it.”

Members of Congress, including U.S. Reps. Gwen Moore, Mark Pocan, Greg Cesar of Texas, and Summer Lee of Pennsylvania, have also called for Sarsour’s release, joining a list of supporters   including Gov. Tony Evers, Milwaukee elected leaders, former elected officials  and numerous local activist and advocacy groups.