Seven of the eight people accused of orchestrating plans to threaten University of Michigan leaders, police and businesses with a wave of crimes designed to force the university to sever ties with Israel had ties with the university, online records show.

The group of defendants is accused of targeting numerous UM officials from October 2023 through April 2025, including the university president, who was Santa Ono at the time; the chief investment officer; the provost; members of the Board of Regents, the Jewish Federation of Detroit and others.

The 63-page indictment accused the defendants of using encrypted chats to research, target and attack victims, as well as social media, during a campaign of threats that emerged amid Israel's war with Hamas in Gaza, according to the government.

Five of the eight appeared Wednesday before Magistrate Judge Anthony Patti in Detroit U.S. District Court, where he ordered they be held by U.S. marshals until a 1 p.m. Friday detention hearing. Photos are not available for at least half of the suspects.

What's known about the suspects

Zainab Hakim: Hakim, 23, is from Canton Township. Hakim graduated from the University of Michigan with a bachelor of arts degree in history of art, women's and gender studies and a minor in Islamic studies. In the fall of 2024, she was hired as an academic program specialist for UM's Center for South Asian Studies, but was fired in April 2025 after a review of her conduct at a protest on May 3, 2024, she told The Polis Project.

Hakim faces a charge of witness intimidation, a 20-year felony. She and another defendant are accused of threatening an unnamed UM student in July 2024 in hopes of preventing the victim from informing a law enforcement officer about the campaign of threats, according to the federal indictment.

Amatullah Hakim: Hakim, 21, is from Ann Arbor and is referred to in the indictment as Zainab's "sister." She was a columnist for the Michigan Daily, the university's student newspaper. Her LinkedIn profile shows she's worked at UM's Museum of Natural History since September 2023 and from February 2020 to August 2020 worked on the Democratic state Senate campaign of State Rep. Ranjeev Puri of Canton Township. Her LinkedIn profile shows she was expected to graduate from UM in 2027.

Hakim is charged with conspiracy to transmit threats in interstate and foreign commerce, which is punishable by up to five years in federal prison.

The indictment ties the Hakim sisters to allegations involving a UM regent whose law firm was vandalized on June 3, 2024. The indictment details match prior news coverage about vandalism at Regent Jordan Acker’s law firm in Southfield on June 3, 2024.

Days earlier, prosecutors alleged that Zainab Hakim searched online for supplies, including water balloons and spray paint.

On June 1, Zainab Hakim took a photo of Amatullah Hakim in their family’s garage showing Amatullah “filling balloons with red paint and smiling at the camera while holding up her ‘bloody hands,’” the indictment reads.

Two days later, on June 3, prosecutors said the Hakims and others vandalized the regent’s law firm “by throwing red paint balloons at the building and leaving imprinted red painted handprints on the windows.”

They also spraypainted messages on the building and sidewalk, including “DIVEST OR F--- OFF,” “UM KILLS,” “FREE PALESTINE” and “DIVEST NOW.”

Paige Feyock: Feyock, 26, is from Ann Arbor. Her LinkedIn profile shows she began at the UM Medical School's Post-Baccalaureate Pre-Med Program three years ago with the intention to prepare for clinical work and take the MCAT. She began working as a clinical research coordinator at Michigan Medicine in October 2024. Her profile shows she worked extensively for organizations promoting health equity, including the MOTHER Lab and the Black Reproductive Justice Initiative Study at Tufts University.

Feycock is charged with witness intimidation, a 20-year felony. She and Zainaub Hakim are accused of threatening an unnamed UM student in July 2024 in hopes of preventing the victim from informing a law enforcement officer about the campaign of threats, according to the federal indictment.

Ahmet Korkaya: Korkaya, 28, is from Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Korkaya was a student at the Medical College of Wisconsin in the Medical Scientist Training Program. His research focused on cancer biology and tumor immunology, according to his profile on the Medical College's website, and he conducted research at the University of Michigan from 2023 to 2024.

Korkaya is charged with conspiracy to transmit threats in interstate and foreign commerce, which is punishable by up to five years in federal prison.

In one chat from May 2024, Feyock and Korkaya, at the time a medical student, exchanged messages and agreed to “kill,” “torment” and “terrorize” unidentified targets, including the university president at the time — who was Santa Ono and who is listed in the indictment as “Victim 4,” or V-4.

“We are finding (V-4’s) address if we don’t have it already (so I can) drive my car into it,” Korkaya wrote. “(V-4’s) entire family is now on my hit list.”

“Lets get (V-4’s) kids bruh …,” Feyock wrote.

Jonathan Zou: Zou, 22, is from Ann Arbor. He is a rising senior studying engineering at UM. He is the lead plaintiff in a lawsuit against the university for a "trespass ban" he was issued after using a megaphone at a protest, the lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union said. He participated in pro-Palestinian campus protests throughout his time at the university, the lawsuit said.

Zou is charged with conspiracy to transmit threats in interstate and foreign commerce, which is punishable by up to five years in federal prison.

Alexander Sepulveda: Sepulveda, 23, is from Chicago. He graduated from UM in May 2026 from the College of Anthropology, a university graduation pamphlet shows. He co-founded the UM Chapter of the Jewish Voice for Peace.

Sepulveda is charged with destruction of property, a five-year felony, as well as conspiracy to transmit threats in interstate and foreign commerce.

Sepulveda and Zou were committed an “autonomous action” at the home of the University of Michigan’s provost, throwing two glass jars filled with a blue substance and food compost through a window of the provost’s home, according to the indictment.

They also spray-painted the home with inverted red triangles and phrases including “Divest” and “Free Palestine.” In April 2025, Sepulveda is alleged to have cleared the contents of his phone and laptop after being warned through encrypted group chats by an unindicted co-conspirator in April 2025 that law enforcement was going to execute a search warrant at Sepulveda’s home, according to the indictment.

Mariam Odeh: Odeh, 24, is from Dearborn. She attended UM on a pre-medical track, pursuing a degree in international studies. Brian Harmon, a pretrial services officer representing Odeh, told Patti on Wednesday that Odeh attended the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor from August 2020 to August 2025 and teaches Arabic. She was an hourly employee of Abdul El-Sayed's Senate campaign starting in February through April 15, El-Sayed's spokesperson Roxie Richner told The Detroit News Thursday. She is a Palestinian-American and was named one of the Arab America Foundation's 20 under 20 in 2020, TCD Dearborn News reported.

The indictment listed Odeh as the president of the organization Students Allied for Freedom and Equality or SAFE.

Odeh is charged with conspiracy to transmit threats in interstate and foreign commerce, which is punishable by up to five years in federal prison.

Prosecutors accused Odeh and others of vandalizing a Rolls Royce Solutions America Inc. building in Metro Detroit in 2024. They padlocked doors and spraypainted messages on the sidewalk like, "FREE PALESTINE" and "LONG LIVE THE INTIFADA."

Colin Weger: Weger, 24, is from Ann Arbor. He did not attend UM but worked with the rest of the defendants to vandalize property, including the Rolls Royce Solutions America Inc. location in Novi and a Maersk Shipping Company building in Romulus, according to federal prosecutors. His specific connection to the others was not indicated in the indictment.

Weger is charged with conspiracy to transmit threats in interstate and foreign commerce, which is punishable by up to five years in federal prison.

In a statement, John Philo, executive and legal director of the Sugar Law Center, said law enforcement's actions toward the eight individuals appeared "to be a new low in the criminalization of student opposition to the human rights violations, war crimes and genocide in Gaza.

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Staff Writer Craig Mauger contributed.

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