Dem Nominee for UMich Board of Regents Defended Alleged Terrorist Charged With Plotting ISIS-Linked Halloween Attack

A Democratic nominee for the University of Michigan's Board of Regents defended an alleged ISIS terrorist who is on trial for plotting to shoot up gay nightclubs in a Detroit suburb over Halloween weekend, court records show.

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Dem Nominee for UMich Board of Regents Defended Alleged Terrorist Charged With Plotting ISIS-Linked Halloween Attack

Amir Makled, who reposted praise for Hezbollah on social media, suggested the FBI 'targeted' his clients and other suspects because they were Muslim

Amir Makled (Instagram)

A Democratic nominee for the University of Michigan's Board of Regents defended an alleged ISIS terrorist who is on trial for plotting to shoot up gay nightclubs in a Detroit suburb over Halloween weekend, court records show.

Dearborn lawyer Amir Makled, who caught flack earlier this month for reposting praise for Hezbollah on social media, served as the defense attorney for Mohmed Ali, a Dearborn man who was arrested for the alleged terror plot by the FBI on Oct. 31, 2025, according to the records. Ali and two other defendants plotted to "conduct a terrorist attack in the United States on behalf of the designated foreign terrorist organization ('FTO') ISIS," the criminal complaint against them states.

Makled secured the Michigan Democratic Party's nomination for the University of Michigan's board, a position that is elected statewide, during the party's convention on Sunday. He could face further questions over his views on terrorism and extremist ideology as a result of his history with Ali.

Makled began representing Ali immediately after his arrest. He withdrew as Ali's attorney in February—roughly one month after he launched his Board of Regents campaign—because Ali could no longer afford to retain him, court filings show. Before leaving the case, however, he professed Ali's innocence, portraying the accused terrorist as a gun enthusiast who would soon be exonerated.

Makled, speaking to CNN in the days after Ali's arrest, argued that the Department of Justice had not yet charged Ali and the other alleged terrorists because the case against them was weak. He said the arrestees had "a lawful interest in recreational firearms" and that a thorough review of the "facts" would show "there was never any planned 'mass-casualty' event or coordinated terror plot of any kind." Makled also suggested that the arrests were part of a racist campaign against the city of Dearborn, which has the largest Muslim population per capita of any city in the country.

"We continue to be targeted and always looked at with a sense of suspicion. Dearborn's used to this," Makled said. "This community doesn't want to be held in that light of suspicion anymore, and it doesn't deserve to be." He went on to "demand an apology" from FBI director Kash Patel if the arrests proved to be mistaken.

That apology never came. Federal prosecutors charged Ali and another accused terrorist, Majed Mahmoud, on Nov. 3, 2025, and released a criminal complaint outlining a wide array of evidence against them.

Text messages and intercepted phone calls, for example, show the suspects discussing plans to carry out the attack on Halloween and coordinating with foreign individuals connected with ISIS, according to federal prosecutors. During this time, Ali "purchased a shotgun, an AR-15 style rifle, and multiple firearm accessories, including a forced reset trigger that allows a shooter to increase the rate of fire in a semiautomatic weapon," according to the indictment.

The men "practiced shooting firearms at gun ranges," shared pro-ISIS and pro-terrorist messages, and "traveled to scout potential attack target locations in Ferndale, Michigan, and in the Midwest," according to prosecutors, who accused the men of scouting out nightclubs that "attract members of the LGBTQ+ community." Ali allegedly conducted online searches about one of the clubs and for "information online about the ISIS-inspired attack on Pulse night club" in Orlando, where terrorist Omar Mateen killed 49 and injured 58 in 2016.

The charges came on the same day CNN published its piece featuring comments from Makled, prompting the outlet to update the piece in the wake of the charges from "The FBI says it thwarted a potential terror attack in a Michigan city. But the community's residents are skeptical" to "Suspects charged in alleged terror plot cited ISIS and may have tried to replicate Paris terror attack on US soil, FBI says."

Makled, who did not respond to a request for comment, has faced scrutiny after the Washington Free Beacon reported that he shared since-deleted X posts celebrating late Hezbollah leaders as "martyr[s]" and called on the Iranian regime to "show no laxity" against Israel. The Service Employees International Union rescinded its endorsement of Makled shortly thereafter.

Public outcry did not prevent the Michigan Democratic Party from nominating Makled for regent on Sunday. Makled is best known in the University of Michigan community for representing students who faced criminal charges stemming from that campus's anti-Israel encampment in the spring of 2024.

Nearly two weeks before the party nominated Makled, he introduced far-left Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed at a campaign event that also featured streamer Hasan Piker.