Jordanian arrested in Houston made statements supporting killing individuals of particular faiths, judge’s order says

A Jordanian man arrested last month in Houston on a federal firearm possession charge had spoken of “martyrdom,” a federal judge said in a court order, and was “plotting to attack a Jewish gathering,” a law enforcement source told CNN.

Sohaib Abuayyash, 20, who is in the United States on an expired nonimmigrant visa, made “statements to others that support the killing of individuals of particular religious faiths,” and “referenced an event in Houston for members of a particular religious group,” according to a federal court judge who ordered the man be detained pending trial.

Details, including the specific target, time or place for the gathering, were not immediately clear in the court documents.

Abuayyash’s attorney declined to comment to CNN.

The arrest comes at a time when the country is seeing an increase in tense rhetoric and protests around the war between Israel and Hamas, the Palestinian militant group, with the head of the FBI warning that antisemitism in the country is reaching “historic levels.”

Read more: CNN