Abdul El-Sayed Refutes Officer’s Claim That Staffer Charged With Conspiracy to Threaten Was ‘Full-Time’ Employee

A former staffer for Democrat U.S. Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed has been charged by the Justice Department with conspiring to threaten University of Michigan leaders to pressure them to sever ties with Israel.

The former staffer, Mariam Muhammed Odeh, 24, was a student at the University of Michigan and a resident of Dearborn, Michigan. El-Sayed says the staffer was not employed full time.

In a 63-page indictment by the department, federal prosecutors accused Odeh and seven other indicted individuals of using encrypted chats and social media to research, target, and attack victims amid a campaign of threats that emerged amid Israel’s war with Hamas in Gaza.

The defendants, whom the government said are associated with the university, are accused of targeting numerous university officials from October 2023 through April 2025, including the president, who was Santa Jeremy Ono at the time. Other targeted university officials listed include the chief investment officer, provost, and members of the board of regents.

Despite El-Sayed’s claim that Odeh only worked part time in his campaign, pretrial services officer Brian Harmon told the judge that Odeh reported “full-time employment for approximately four months,” from February to April, “for a local Senate candidate.”

The indictment listed Odeh as the president of Students Allied for Freedom and Equality, or SAFE. As reported by The Times of Israel, Students Allied for Freedom and Equality was accused of violating the university’s standards of conduct for recognized student organizations following a protest last spring outside a regent’s home and also at a demonstration without school permission on its Ann Arbor campus.

Odeh made an initial appearance Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Detroit before U.S. Magistrate Judge Anthony Patti, according to a court audio recording. Her arraignment is set for July 1, court records show.

The charges came after top University of Michigan officials and their homes had been targeted by demonstrations and vandalism in recent years, and as protesters demanded that the university halt its endowment investments in military contractors and Israeli companies because of Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza.

Many student groups were instrumental in the pro-Palestinian protests that erupted on college campuses, especially at top universities like the University of Michigan.

After the encampment first emerged, the homes and private property of several university regents and administrators were vandalized, The College Fix reported.

In June 2024, the front of Jewish Regent Jordan Acker’s law office was spray-painted with the phrases “free Palestine” and “divest or f— off,” as stated by The College Fix.

In October 2024, Ono, who was the university president at the time, had his home vandalized with the words “intifada,” “coward,” and “divest.”

In March 2025, Provost Laurie McCauley was targeted when protesters broke a window at her home and spray-painted “free Palestine,” “divest,” and “no honor in genocide,” according to WXYZ, the ABC affiliate in Detroit.