Mariam Odeh

Introduction

Mariam Odeh, 24, of Dearborn, Michigan, is one of twelve people federally indicted in what the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Michigan describes as conspiracies to threaten University of Michigan leaders, law enforcement, and businesses — including the Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Detroit — in an effort to force the university to sever ties with Israel. She was named in the original June 10, 2026 round of indictments and is charged with one count of conspiracy to transmit threats in interstate and foreign commerce, which carries up to five years in prison on conviction. The New York Post’s report on the case singled her out for a second detail: before the alleged conduct, Odeh spent two weeks as an hourly employee on Abdul El-Sayed’s Michigan Senate campaign.

Background Information

The Michigan Daily reported that Odeh is a University of Michigan class of 2024 graduate who previously served as president of SAFE, the pro-Palestinian campus group that organized the university’s 2024 encampment. According to Detroit News records cited by the Post, El-Sayed’s Senate campaign paid Odeh twice — about $750 in total — for hourly work that ended on April 15, 2026, and campaign spokesperson Roxie Richner confirmed the two-week position. Abdul El-Sayed, the campaign’s own subject of a contested political fight documented on this site, is not accused in the federal case; his campaign did not respond to the Post’s request for comment. Federal prosecutors say the conspiracy followed the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack on Israel: on October 20, 2023, the group publicly posted demands requiring the university’s “full and complete divestment” from Israel, and, unsatisfied with the university’s response, allegedly prepared what members called “autonomous actions” against university leadership.

The Controversy or Incident That Led to Their Cancellation

Indicted, not convicted. Odeh faces one count of conspiracy to transmit threats in interstate and foreign commerce. An indictment is a formal charge: the allegations below come from federal prosecutors and an unsealed indictment, she has not been tried, and she is presumed innocent. The Post reports that she and her attorneys did not respond to requests for comment.

The indictment in United States v. Hakim et al. (No. 5:26-cr-20306, E.D. Mich.) names Odeh as Defendant 7 in Count Three, the conspiracy count targeting Rolls Royce Solutions America, Inc. — also known as MTU — an engine manufacturer headquartered in Germany with a presence in Israel and Michigan locations. Its overt-acts section alleges that on June 27, 2024, co-defendant Zainab Aliasgar Hakim messaged Odeh asking whether she wanted to join an “action” that Saturday night and saying he — the writer — needed “a scout”; that on June 29 Odeh asked for Hakim’s address because co-defendant Ahmet Kerem Korkaya “said to meet there,” was told to “come by 11:30,” and, just before midnight, told Hakim she was “7 min away” and asked to park in her driveway. Prosecutors allege that from roughly 2:00 to 2:40 a.m. on June 30, 2024, Odeh and four co-defendants vandalized the MTU building: they padlocked the doors, painted inverted red triangles — a symbol the Justice Department says Hamas has used in its military videos to mark targets for death — pressed red handprints on the windows, threw red paint balloons at the building’s sign, and spray-painted “FREE PALESTINE” and “LONG LIVE THE INTIFADA,” among other messages, on the building and sidewalk.

The wider conspiracy the indictment describes reaches beyond Odeh’s own count: prosecutors say members damaged and defaced the homes of university officials with spray paint, demand notes, caulked and bike-locked doors, broken windows, and glass jars filled with butyric acid and dye, then photographed the destruction and posted it online with warnings such as “you cannot hide” and “we only come back stronger.” The indictment also alleges, in an overt act tied to a separate count that charges three co-defendants over vandalism at a Maersk facility, that when Hakim asked SAFE for “money for autonomous actions,” Odeh — described as SAFE’s president — replied that she was “okay with giving money for this but we need to figure out a secure untraceable way.” That message is an allegation in the indictment, and Odeh is not among the defendants charged in the Maersk count.

Public Reaction and Consequences

The June indictment followed early-morning FBI raids, and by the time the defendants appeared in federal court in Detroit that day, roughly forty demonstrators had gathered outside the courthouse to protest the charges. SAFE, Odeh’s former group, said in a statement to The Michigan Daily that the arrests were “unprecedented retaliation by the regents in collaboration with the federal government” and part of “a national trend of escalated targeting of Palestine solidarity activism on college campuses.” Federal officials framed the case differently: U.S. Attorney Jerome F. Gorgon Jr. said at the June announcement that “in America, we rule by law not by fear” and “we will counter intimidation with justice,” and at the October announcement that “from Pharaoh to Hitler to Hamas, those who terrorize Jews have been the bad guys.” The Post characterized the twelve as “anti-Israel activists” accused of “terrorizing” members of Michigan’s Jewish community.

Current Status

The Michigan Daily reported that Odeh was released shortly after her June detainment, alongside two co-defendants. On October 30, 2026, prosecutors unsealed a superseding indictment that brought the case to twelve defendants: two of the four newly charged were arrested that week and made initial court appearances in Detroit, while two remained at large, according to the Justice Department. Odeh has not been tried or convicted, and the fetched record shows no entered plea; this page will be updated as the criminal case moves.

Impact on Their Career/Life

Odeh went from a 2024 Michigan graduate and student-group president to a named federal defendant whose SAFE presidency and a recorded message about funding “autonomous actions” are now part of an unsealed indictment. Her brief employment on El-Sayed’s campaign — about $750 for two weeks of hourly work, per the campaign’s own records — became the headline fact of the Post’s write-up, though nothing in the indictment implicates the campaign itself, and she faces up to five years in prison if convicted on the conspiracy count.

Sources

U.S. Attorney’s Office, Eastern District of Michigan, “Department of Justice indicts eight conspirators who threatened University of Michigan officials, businesses, and the Jewish Federation,” June 10, 2026 source
U.S. Attorney’s Office, Eastern District of Michigan, “U.S. Attorney Announces Charges Against Four Additional Defendants in Sprawling Conspiracy Terrorizing Jewish Community, University of Michigan Officials,” October 30, 2026 source
Federal indictment, United States v. Hakim et al., No. 5:26-cr-20306-JEL-EAS (E.D. Mich., filed May 20, 2026), via CourtListener RECAP source
The Michigan Daily, “DOJ indicts pro-Palestine activists after FBI raids, sparking protest,” June 2026 source
The Michigan Daily, “The Daily breaks down indictment against eight pro-Palestine activists,” June 2026 source
New York Post, “Former El-Sayed campaign worker among anti-Israel activists indicted for terrorizing Michigan’s Jewish community: feds,” November 2, 2026 source
New York Post trigger post on X, November 2, 2026 source