In the USA, two Leader of a right-wing extremist group arrested and charged with planning a “race war” and attacks on Jews, immigrants, blacks and the LGBTQ community. As the US authorities announced on Monday (local time), 34-year-old Dallas H. from Elk Grove, California, and 37-year-old Matthew A. from Boise, Idaho, were taken into custody on Friday.
The two men, who communicated via an online forum known as “Terrorgram,” are to be tried in federal court on charges of leading a “transnational terrorist group,” US Attorney General Merrick Garland said. Their group, which is convinced of the superiority of whites, wanted to attack officials and critical infrastructure in the USA and commit “deadly hate crimes”.
Specifically, H. and A. are accused of offenses such as inciting hate crimes and the murder of government officials, distributing instructions for making bombs and conspiracy to supply material to support terrorists.
At least two attacks are linked to the group
According to the indictment, the two had used an encrypted platform of the messaging service Telegram to spread their ideology of white supremacy and in a forum called “Terrorgram Collective” to communicate with followersNot only the names and photos, but also the addresses of possible targets of attacks, including a US senator and a prosecutor, were passed on there.
The two defendants are said to have spread the belief that violence and terror were necessary “to ignite a race war and ‘accelerate’ the collapse of the government and the rise of a white state,” the indictment continues. The two men are said to have joined Terrorgram in 2019 and took over leadership in 2022 after the arrest of a leader.
At least two acts of violence are linked to the group: the knife attack by an 18-year-old in front of a Turkish mosque on August 12, which was broadcast live on the Internet, in which the perpetrator injured five people and was then arrested, and the shooting of two men in a gay bar in the Slovak capital Bratislava in October 2022The 19-year-old Slovakian assassin had sent A. his manifesto for the attack before he carried out the attack and committed suicide.
A. and H. now face a sentence of up to 220 years in prison for the 15 charges brought against them. (AFP)
