An Afghan refugee accused of plotting an Election Day terror attack appeared in a federal courtroom in Oklahoma City Thursday. Deemed dangerous and unpredictable by the judge, he will stay behind bars as he awaits trial.
In a preliminary hearing in the Western District Court of Oklahoma, federal prosecutors argued the FBI had gathered enough evidence to hold Nasir Ahmad Tawhedi while his case was adjudicated. They say his intentions of martyrdom are clear and he would be a danger to the community.
Judge Suzanne Mitchell agreed with Department of Justice prosecutors Matt Dillon and Jessica Perry. She decided Tawhedi would await trial for his Election Day attack plot in the custody of the U.S. Marshal. His trial date is pending.
Dillon kicked off the hearing with news that the Department of Homeland Security revoked Tawhedi’s humanitarian parole assigned to him when he arrived during the resettlement of about 76,000 Afghan refugees across the U.S. following the fall of Kabul to the Taliban. The department also squashed any application Tawhedi had in progress to solidify his legal immigration status in the country.
That means if he would’ve been released while waiting for his trial date, he would’ve been so as an unauthorized immigrant. And while the court can’t use immigration status alone to make its pre-trial detention choice, someone’s status can be weighed along with other factors, and Mitchell said she took it into account.
Craig Hoehns, Tawhedi’s court-appointed public defender, didn’t fight the judge’s finding of probable cause, but he did give a handful of reasons why his client should be released until he’s meant to appear in court.
Hoehns said Tawhedi has no criminal record — not even a traffic ticket — and no history of gun ownership, drug use or alcoholism. Tawhedi does have a wife and children. In addition, Hoehns said, if federal authorities are worried about what Tawhedi might do leading up to his trial, they can mitigate risk by GPS tracking him and putting him on house arrest.
“It is evident that the only time Tawhedi possessed a firearm was when a federal agent placed it in his hands,” Hoehns said.
FBI Field Agent Derrick Wiley, who worked on Tawhedi’s case and was the only witness present at the hearing, said Tawhedi did not resist at all while being taken into custody.
But Dillon, who did most of the talking on behalf of the prosecution, said Tawhedi’s behavior leading up to the arrest trumps his lack of actual violence during it when it comes to deciding whether he should await trial behind bars.
The FBI tracked Tawhedi and his minor-aged brother-in-law for 45 days before the arrest, with help from a confidential source.
Tawhedi’s intentions are clear, Dillon said, and Tawhedi’s admittance to the liquidation of his home for fast cash, plans to repatriate his family back to Afghanistan, and gathering of guns and ammunition for an act of terror during a post-arrest interview with agents at the FBI field office, solidify he is too dangerous to let go.
Judge Mitchell summarized the reason for her decision succinctly before striking her gavel:
“The court does not believe it can come up with any set of circumstances that would ensure the defendant’s reappearance in court or the safety of the community if [Tawhedi] were to be released,” she said.
