Pakistani accused of plotting to kill US politician pleads not guilty

Asif Merchant is said to have travelled to Iran before going to America

A PAKISTANI man accused of hatching a plot aimed at killing an American politician in retaliation for the assassination of top Iranian commander Qassem Soleimani has pleaded not guilty before a US magistrate.

Asif Merchant, 46, entered his plea to one count of “attempting to commit terrorism across national boundaries” and one count of “murder for hire” during a hearing before Magistrate Judge Robert Levy in Brooklyn, daily ‘Dawn’ said in a report. He ordered that the accused be detained pending trial.

Federal prosecutors allege that Mr Merchant spent time in Iran before travelling to the US to recruit people for the plot. They claim the accused also planned to steal documents from one target and organise protests in the United States.

The defendant named Donald Trump as a potential target but said he had not conceived the scheme as a plan to assassinate the former president, according to a person familiar with the matter.

Court papers do not name the alleged targets, and no attacks were made. As president, Mr Trump had in 2020 approved the fatal drone strike on Mr Soleimani at Baghdad airport.

There are no suggestions that Mr Merchant was tied to an apparent assassination attempt on Mr Trump at his Florida golf course on Sunday, or a separate shooting of the Republican presidential candidate at a rally in Pennsylvania in July.

Defence lawyer Avraham Moskowitz objected at the hearing to the jail conditions. He said Mr Merchant was being held in isolation and had lost 15 to 20 pounds because jail officials would not serve a halal diet appropriate for a Muslim.