A garden of sunflowers … and an AK-47: Iranian murder plot comes to Brooklyn
At first, he seemed 'like a normal guy', the Iranian-American dissident writer recalled in court this week of a fateful day in late July 2022. 'He was walking and then he had a phone in his hand.'
Alinejad saw him talking and said 'what?', thinking he was trying to speak with her. When Alinejad realized that he was speaking on the phone, she said 'sorry' and grew worried. 'I was like, the guy is a little bit suspicious so I got panicked. I ran to my entrance door,' Alinejad recalled. She scrambled to get the key and then saw him in her front garden.
'It was full of sunflowers,' Alinejad said. 'He was like, in the sunflowers staring into my eyes.' She told her friend that they should leave right away for their planned trip to Connecticut.
She told her husband, maybe he was just taking photos. 'A lot of people [are] taking photos of my garden, my beautiful sunflowers.'
Alinejad had used the garden as a salve for the frequent insults and threats received for opposition to Iran's treatment of women, planting a flower for 'every single curse' against her. 'That's why you see I have a beautiful, massive garden, because I face a lot of cursing and threats.'
As it turned out, that man was a would-be assassin named Khalid Mehdiyev, and Alinejad was the target of an extraordinary plot to kill her and silence a powerful voice of opposition to the Tehran regime.
Federal prosecutors showed how Mehdiyev was supposed to be the triggerman in an international murder plot involving the Iranian government and Russian mobsters named Rafat Amirov and Polad Omarov. Iranian officials hired Amirov and Omarov to kill Alinejad in the US for $500,000 after previous plots failed, prosecutors said.
The Iranian regime wanted to assassinate Alinejad due to her advocacy for women's rights and freedom. She had left Iran in 2009 following the country's disputed 2009 presidential election and moved to the US, where she launched online campaigns for women's rights and worked as a journalist, author and fierce critic of the Iranian government.
Amirov and Omarov were found guilty on Thursday in Manhattan federal court of charges such as murder-for-hire, and attempted murder in aid of racketeering. Omarov's lawyer, reached for comment, said in an email: 'We respect the jury's verdict, but plan on filing an appeal on Mr Omarov's behalf.'
Mehdiyev testified as a government witness at trial. Prosecutors said that Amirov and Omarov paid him $30,000 to kill Alinejad and detailed the alleged plot in court papers.
In mid-July 2022, Amirov sent photos of Alinejad and her home, as well as her address, to Omirov. In turn, Omirov sent the information to Mehdiyev.
Days later, Mehdiyev acquired an AK-47-type assault rifle and even boasted to his housemate: 'I bought this thing[,] you'd lose your mind if you saw it…war machine…f--k' in a text with several crying smiley-face emojis.
Mehdiyev then repeatedly traveled between his Yonkers, New York, home and Brooklyn where he surveilled Alinejad and her family. He repeatedly sent updates to his gangster buddies who showered him with encouragement. In one missive, Mehidyev told Omarov he was at the 'crime scene'.
'Ok. You are a man!' Omarov responded in a 24 July 2022 exchange, according to court papers.
The duo swapped messages several days later, brainstorming ways to lure Alinejad to the door. Maybe Mehidyev could ask for flowers from the garden?
She did not, however. It seemed that Omarov and Amirov were growing concerned about Mehdiyev. 'This matter is going to be over today, brother. I told them to make a birthday present for me,' Omarov said in a 27 July 2022 text. Amirov responded with 'an image of two hands together in prayer' and links to Alinejad's social media accounts.
The next day, Mehidyev drove back to Alinejad's home. En route, Mehidyev recorded a video that showed a suitcase in the backseat, and opened the front flap – revealing the assault rifle.
He sent the video to Omarov with the caption 'we are ready.' Omarov sent Amirov the video. Amirov cautioned that Mehidyev should 'keep the car clean' – to shoot Alinejad away from the vehicle, lest there be forensic science evidence.
Mehidyev did not know that he was being watched. Police had spotted him around Alinejad's neighborhood the day before and on the morning of 28 July 2022, thought he was acting 'suspiciously'.
Mehidyev got into and out of his Subaru several times. He went to her house, tried looking inside the window, and also tried opening the front door. Mehidyev even ordered food delivery to his car.
The plot was foiled after Alinejad left her home. Mehidyev drove away about 15 minutes later.
He ran through a stop sign and police pulled him over. After checking his documents, police found that he was driving without a license – and that it had been suspended – resulting in his arrest.
While Mehidyev was at the police precinct, officers searched his car. They found the gun – which had an 'obliterated' serial number – and ammo, as well as more than $1,000.
Related: Iranian dissident put under 24-hour police protection in UK after threats to life
Mehidyev told authorities that he was merely looking for an apartment in that neighborhood because 'the rent was too high and he needed to find a new place to live.' Yes, he tried to open the outer door of the house, so he could knock on the inside door and ask about renting a room. The cash was in case he needed to rent a hotel room, court papers said.
Without being asked about a gun, Mehidyev 'volunteered' that he didn't know anything about the weapon. After agents left the interview room, Mehidyev asked to speak with them again.
Mehidyev told them the AK-47 was his and that 'he had been in Brooklyn because he was looking for someone.' He then requested a lawyer and declined to speak any more.
Mehidyev reportedly pleaded guilty to his involvement in the plot. He became the prosecution's key witness at trial.
Alinejad has not lived at her home since late July 2022.
She went back 'just for once to see my neighbors, to make sure that they're watering my garden and my tree'.
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