Texas Man Accused Of Threatening Zohran Mamdani | EUROtoday

NEW YORK (AP) — A Texas man has been charged with making loss of life threats in opposition to New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani, prosecutors introduced Thursday.

Jeremy Fistel, 44, was arrested in Texas and delivered to New York for an arraignment on fees that he despatched a collection of threatening voicemails and written messages to Mamdani’s workplace in June, prosecutors mentioned.

In one message, Fistel mentioned, “Start your car. See what happens,” based on prosecutors. In others, he known as Mamdani, who could be New York City’s first Muslim mayor if elected, a terrorist and advised him to return to the nation the place he was born — Uganda.

“Muslims don’t belong here,” Fistel mentioned, based on prosecutors. “You deserve to be six feet underground,” one other message mentioned, based on authorities.

Fistel, who faces fees of creating terroristic threats and aggravated harassment, pleaded not responsible. He left court docket Thursday afternoon after posting a $30,000 bail.

His lawyer, Todd Douglas Greenberg, mentioned in court docket that his consumer was a decent particular person and disputed the character of the fees, arguing that Fistel used phrases comparable to “wish” and “hope” moderately than making “specific and imminent” threats.

“No one is sitting here arguing that what my client allegedly said was proper. It was unpleasant speech, but it was free speech,” Greenberg mentioned.

Prosecutors mentioned they’re ready to undergo the court docket a press release recorded on video that Fistel made to authorities in entrance of his dwelling in Plano.

“If this is about phone calls, I just won’t make them anymore,” he advised officers, based on a transcript learn aloud in court docket. “I don’t like people who support terrorism. I don’t like that at all.”

Fistel mentioned he didn’t threaten anybody and didn’t imagine he dedicated any crime as he claimed he was “just a regular guy” and pleaded with authorities to not place him underneath arrest.

“I am sorry. Stupidity is not fun,” he mentioned, based on prosecutors. “Sometimes you get ashamed of yourself.”

The fees got here throughout a interval of heightened tensions round political violence within the U.S., following the killing of conservative activist Charlie Kirk at an occasion in Utah final week and the deadly shootings of a Democratic state lawmaker in Minnesota and her husband earlier this 12 months.

Politicians in each events and at many ranges of public service have been compelled to cope with acute safety issues, with some canceling public appearances, whereas others are counting on a big police presence to maintain them protected.

Mamdani’s marketing campaign didn’t instantly touch upon Fistel’s arrest. In June, Mamdani, a Democrat who serves within the New York state Assembly, advised reporters that he had acquired threats on his life and “on the people that I love.”

New York City Mayor Eric Adams advised reporters Thursday morning that Mamdani has been given a full police safety element.

But Adams, who’s operating in opposition to Mamdani within the mayoral election, additionally took the chance to chide Mamdani, saying it was “ironic” that somebody who has criticized town’s police division would now be benefiting from its safety.

“The person who made the threat should be apprehended. It just goes to show that these officers carry out their job, no matter who the person is,” Adams mentioned.

Mamdani was born in Kampala, Uganda, to Indian dad and mom and have become an American citizen in 2018, shortly after graduating school. He was first elected to the New York Assembly in 2020.