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The Guardian
30-03-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
Iran dissident still reeling from aftermath of foiled murder plot: ‘I've been living in a nightmare'
Masih Alinejad has long held fast fighting for women's rights in Iran despite ongoing threats from the regime. Alinejad, an Iranian American dissident, has for years been targeted by Tehran for her unrelenting criticism of Iran's government as a journalist, author and activist publicizing human rights abuses on social media – and calling for change. Iran's desire to silence Alinejad recently came to the forefront in Manhattan federal court: two Russian mobsters, Rafat Amirov and Polad Omarov, were on 20 March found guilty in an international murder-for-hire plot against her. US prosecutors said in court that Iranian officials contracted these men to kill Alinejad at her Brooklyn home for $500,000 after several other plots failed. Amirov and Omarov are jailed, as is the hitman they hired, and all three face years in prison. But Alinejad knows that a sense of home – which she has so craved after being banned from her birth country – remains out of reach. Alinejad has only been back once to her Brooklyn house since the foiled plot in late July 2022. 'To be honest, behind the scenes, I cried a lot,' she told the Guardian in an interview. 'This is my life. This is not just a news story. I want everyone to know that I've been living in a nightmare.' For three years, Alinejad said, there were times 'when I used to wake up in the middle of night without recognizing where I was, because I moved more than 20 times between safe houses'. 'This is not normal, to watch over my shoulder when I walk in the street,' she said. 'I don't have a place to call a home, to [put up] pictures of my loved ones, to grow my own plants.' 'I loved my garden in Brooklyn. The reason, actually, I planted it, I come from a tiny village. My parents were former farmers. They were street peddlers. They were growing vegetables in the garden, basil, tomatoes, cucumbers, mint, you know, and herbs, selling these vegetables to the people in the city of Babol. 'I was forced to leave my family members, so I actually tried to create a small village in Brooklyn [reminding] me of my family members, growing all those same vegetables that I used to grow up with them in the village,' Alinejad said. 'I planted a cherry blossom tree and named it after my mother. I planted a peach tree, which was so tall in Brooklyn, and I named it after my father. I planted a beautiful tea tree and named it after my brother.' 'I actually tried to have a normal life in exile. This was my resistance against exile,' she said. 'First, I was forced to leave my family members in Iran and now I was forced to leave my cherry blossom mother in Brooklyn, my plants, my beautiful garden, my small village.' 'That's not a normal life, and I still don't feel safe, even in America, miles away from my birth country, from Revolutionary Guard members.' The word 'safe', Alinejad said, is a luxury unavailable to those who 'dare to challenge' Tehran. She was especially distraught several years prior to the Brooklyn plot. Alinejad's brother called in a panic with word that Tehran wanted to kidnap her in Turkey – by using relatives to lure her there for a family visit. He was imprisoned for two years after warning her. Asked whether she sees a return to normalcy in the future, Alinejad said: 'Having a normal life is the dream of millions of people. To be honest, I don't want to just say that I don't have a normal life.' 'Do you think that a woman who is getting beaten up in the street for the crime of showing her hair has a normal life in Iran? If a girl, from the age of seven, being forced to wear a hijab – if not, she won't be able to get an education – has a normal life in Iran? No.' 'I don't think that as far as the Islamic Republic is in power, none of us have normal lives,' Alinejad said. 'So I see having a normal life the day when we have secure democracy in Iran. Alinejad thinks that policymakers should see Iran's brazen actions in other countries as a clear warning – and called for them to unify against the threat. But on the left, some are reluctant to speak up lest they seem critical of Iran's culture or religion, Alinejad said. On the right, some supporting an 'America first' approach to policy don't realize terrorists prioritize the US. 'For you, America is first – but you should know that for terrorists, for the Islamic Republic, America is first too,' Alinejad said. 'The first thing that they educate the youth, from the age of seven, is to say 'death to America', to destroy America, to hate America, to hate American values. They want to destroy you, whether you're rightwing or leftwing, Republican or Democrat.' 'I want Americans, at the end, to know what happened to me can happen to anyone in America who cares about freedom, who cares about democracy,' Alinejad said. 'If terrorists could map out different tactics, three times, to kidnap me or kill me, definitely these terrorists will do anything that they can to destroy America, because this is their ideology.' Alinejad believes that policymakers could learn about unity from everyday Americans – including her neighbors in Brooklyn. 'There are people having [signs] supporting President Trump in their garden, and there is another sign of Kamala-Biden, Bernie Sanders, there's a flag supporting the LGTBQ community,' she said. After news broke of the assassination plot, 'I saw that all my neighbors are knocking on the door and offering me food, red wine.' 'One of them even said that if you want to hide somewhere, my house is safe for you.' 'I was like, this is the America that I love,' Alinejad said. Americans might be divided but when it comes to helping their fellow citizens in a time of need, 'we're all united'. 'That could be a lesson for the policymakers,' Alinejad said. 'I believe that there is something wrong in policymaking, not just in America, everywhere, that they forget what is basic for all the citizens.'
CBS News
25-03-2025
- Politics
- CBS News
A murder-for-hire in Brooklyn: How the Iranian regime targeted a dissident with help from the Russian mob
Masih Alinejad , a journalist and prominent critic of the Iranian regime, was in the garden of her Brooklyn home when she locked eyes with the hitman hired to assassinate her. It was late July, and she had gone into her garden to pick vegetables. "He was gigantic," she later testified in federal district court in Manhattan at the trial of the men who plotted to kill her. "He was in the sunflowers staring into my eyes." Though she eyed him with some suspicion, she also thought he might be taking pictures of her garden of "beautiful sunflowers." "Every curse that I hear, I plant a flower," she explained, referring to threats she's endured for criticizing the Islamic Republic. "That's why I have a massive garden. A lot of cursing and threats." The man in her garden, Khalid Mehdiyev, had been directed to kill Alinejad by fellow members of a Russian mob organization known as Thieves-in-Law, Rafat Amirov and Polad Omarov, prosecutors said . In his car was an AK-47 style assault rifle and 66 rounds of ammunition. Prosecutors said that Iran's government had offered Amirov and Omarov a $500,000 bounty. On July 28, 2022, this murder-for-hire scheme involving Russian mobsters and the Iranian regime targeting a defiant dissident was foiled in Brooklyn. Alinejad, who has wild curls and often wears a white flower in her hair, is also an activist and leader of the movement to free Iran's women from the compulsory hijab . This was only one of the Iranian regime's several attempts to assassinate or kidnap Alinejad. One alleged assassination planner targeted not just Alinejad, but also President Trump during his 2024 campaign last fall. Farhad Shakeri is accused of being an "asset" of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) who was tasked with devising a plan to kill Mr. Trump and recruiting two men to "silence and kill, on U.S. soil, an American journalist," according to the indictment. While it was not the first attempt on her life, Amirov and Omarov were the first attempted assassins to go to trial in New York last week in a criminal case that provided a rare look into Iran's assassination attempts on U.S. soil. Prosecutors said high-ranking members of the IRGC were instructing Amirov and Omarov in the scheme. FBI agents detailed their analysis of devices and internet search histories tying Iranian intelligence officers to the plot. Through photographs, videos and messages, they illustrated the global network behind the attempted murder, with Medhiyev reporting his surveillance progress to Omarov and Amirov as he updated them from Brooklyn. "We blocked it from both sides, it will be a show once she steps out of the house," messaged Medhiyev to Omarov, who then forwarded it to Amirov. "God willing," he replied. In another plan, Medhiyev went to ask Alinejad for flowers from her garden, but she did not come to the door. Her Ring camera surveillance at one point showed him pacing back and forth on her porch before trying to open the door. Medhiyev was later stopped by police, who found the rifle and bullets in the backseat of his car. Last week, a federal jury found Omarov and Amirov guilty on all charges , including murder-for-hire and attempted murder in aid of racketeering. They face over 50 years in prison. "I am being bombarded with emotion," Alinejad told CBS News over the phone shortly after the verdict, sounding tearful. "I just need to cry now, I need to laugh, I need to dance. I just got the news now." "The real masterminds of this crime are still in power in Iran," she said. "I am waiting for the day when Ali Khamenei and his terrorist Revolutionary Guards face justice, I want them to be punished." Despite the attempts on her life, Alinejad said she will not be silenced in her fight against the Islamic Republic. "She has a mission," her husband Kambiz Foroohar told CBS News. "And that mission is that the Islamic Republic is like ISIS. It's an evil regime. She feels like she's compelled to challenge it. Compulsory hijab is just one way of challenging the Islamic Republic." In Iran, Alinejad struggled to keep her wild curls hidden under a hijab. "I have a lot of hair. It was not easy," she testified in court. She was a political journalist there for over a decade but admitted she was always crossing the "red lines" of what Iran's government would allow people to write about. In 2009, she fled Iran. "I'm a journalist, so I couldn't just keep quiet," she said. "I had no option but to leave Iran." Once in the United States, she took off her hijab. She posted a photo of herself jumping in the air on social media, reveling in the feeling of the wind in her hair. In Iran, she "felt like a hostage." That was the beginning of her campaign against the compulsory hijab, which evolved into the White Wednesday movement. Every Wednesday, women in Iran would film videos of themselves walking unveiled, a peaceful protest against compulsion. "Social media is like my weapon," Alinejad testified. "My social media exposé." The Iranian regime reacted by calling her and unveiled women "prostitutes," she said. They arrested hundreds of women. Iran's Revolutionary Court has threatened women with up to 10 years in prison for sharing protest videos with her. "It's become a crime," she said, her voice cracking. The government has also accused Alinejad of being a foreign agent. "Oh, all of them," she testified listing intelligence agencies: "Agent of the CIA, agent of Mossad, Agent of MI6, agent of President Trump." In court, Alinejad broke down when the prosecution displayed a cartoon published in Iran's state-controlled newspaper depicting two dissidents hanging in the air and an image of Alinejad looking up at them fearfully. Both men, who held citizenship in Europe (one also had a U.S. green card) were kidnapped and executed by the Iranian regime. She testified in court that the caption read: " Next: Masih Alinejad. " "Did you understand that to be about you?" the prosecutor asked. "Yes," she replied tearfully. By proxy, Alinejad's family in Iran has also become a target. In 2018, Iranian government officials tried to coerce relatives to lure her to Turkey, where they planned to capture her, offering a payment in exchange. The relatives did not accept. In 2019, her brother was arrested on charges of associating with her. He was sentenced to eight years in prison but released after two years . "They can't reach her. They can reach her family." said Foroohar. "So that's always a big concern. But the family is also brave. They're enduring it." In July 2021, four Iranian intelligence officials were charged with a kidnapping conspiracy – for developing plans to kidnap Alinejad and bring her back to Iran. They allegedly explored slipping her out of the U.S. by travel routes from Alinejad's home to the waterfront in Brooklyn, a maritime evacuation route involving speed boats, and maritime travel from New York to Venezuela, according to the indictment. The conspirators live in Iran, where they remain at large. It is "chilling" how close Mehdiyev came to carrying out the plan to kill his wife, said Faroohar. Medhiyev testified at trial about seeing Alinejad on the porch as he walked by her home, but his gun was in the car. By the time he went back for it, she had left. "I was there to try to kill the journalist," he admitted. Medhiyev was a key witness for the prosecution, but the defense tried to undermine his credibility, dubbing him the "pizza delivery hitman" after Medhiyev admitted on the stand that he had once planned a kidnapping while working at a pizza shop. "As you're coordinating an international kidnapping you're also working at a pizza shop?" asked Omarov's defense attorney, Elena Fast. "That's correct," he replied. On the day of his arrest, Mehdiyev had approached the door of Alinejad's home. At the time she was on a Zoom call with Venezuelan dissident Leopoldo Lopez and Russian chess player Garry Kasparov . She heard someone on the porch but did not go downstairs. "She said, 'I don't know who that is but this call is more important,'" Lopez recounted over Whatsapp. "It was the Zoom call that saved her life," he said. Earlier, Medhiyev had sent Omarov a video of him opening a suitcase in the back of his car with an AK-47 style rifle inside. A caption read, "we are ready." Amirov replied, "keep the car clean." Police arrested Mehdiyev nearby that day after he ran a stop sign. In the back of his car, they discovered the AK-47 style assault rifle and 66 rounds of ammunition. Foroohar received a call at work from the FBI asking to "whisk me away to a safe location." He and Alinejad were later told that a man with an AK-47 had been arrested outside their home. "It's quite stressful. It's quite scary," admitted Foroohar, when asked what it felt like to live under threat. "At the same time if you think about it too much, you are just paralyzed. So you compartmentalize." "It's not easy. Sometimes you look over your shoulder," he added. "Sometimes you just learn how to trust." Alinejad and her husband have lived in so many safe houses that they lost track. She has only been back to their Brooklyn home once to make sure the neighbors are watering her garden. In 2024, it was under surveillance again. On Nov. 7, Shakeri – the man assigned to assassinate both Mr. Trump and Alinejad – along with Carlisle Rivera and Jonathan Loadholt were indicted for their alleged involvement in a second murder-for-hire plot on Alinejad's life. Rivera and Loadholt are accused of surveilling her Brooklyn home for months, with the intent to locate and kill her. The Justice Department charged Shakeri with directing "a network of criminal associates to further Iran's assassination plots against its targets." "It was very shocking and surprising," said Foroohar. "We thought the whole thing was over and done with. And we don't know when the next one is. We had a conversation with members of the Biden administration, and they said, you better get used to this because Iran is very determined to get rid of Masih, and they're not going to give up."
Yahoo
22-03-2025
- Yahoo
A garden of sunflowers … and an AK-47: Iranian murder plot comes to Brooklyn
Masih Alinejad had just finished gathering tomatoes and cucumbers from the backyard garden of her Brooklyn home when she spotted a 'gigantic' man mulling about. 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'.
The Guardian
22-03-2025
- The Guardian
A garden of sunflowers … and an AK-47: Iranian murder plot comes to Brooklyn
Masih Alinejad had just finished gathering tomatoes and cucumbers from the backyard garden of her Brooklyn home when she spotted a 'gigantic' man mulling about. 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. 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'.
NBC News
22-03-2025
- Politics
- NBC News
Two men convicted in Iranian plot to kill U.S.-based critic
Two men have been convicted of murder-for-hire as part of an Iranian government plot to silence a critic in the United States, federal prosecutors said Friday. Their target was Masih Alinejad, a statement from the U.S. Attorney's Office said. Alinejad is a journalist affiliated with Voice of America, a U.S.-government funded news outlet whose director has described it as promoting freedom and democracy worldwide by providing objective information. Rafat Amirov, 46; and Polad Omarov, 40, were convicted by a federal grand jury in New York City of five counts on Thursday, the U.S. Attorney's Office said in a statement. The indictment includes charges of murder-for-hire; conspiracy to commit murder-for-hire; conspiracy to commit money laundering; attempted murder in aid of racketeering; and carrying a gun for an attempted murder, the office said. Alinejad, who has been critical of Iran's treatment of women and of its record on human rights, responded to Thursday's verdict in a statement:"For the first time, the regime of the Islamic Republic is being held accountable for bringing its campaign of terror to U.S. soil." She added, "They failed. I am still here." Attorneys for Amirov did not immediately respond to a request for comment Friday. Omarov's lawyer, Elena Fast, said by email, "We respect the jury's verdict, but plan on filing an appeal on Mr. Omarov's behalf." Federal prosecutors said high-ranking members of the Revolutionary Guard tapped the pair, described in the indictment as superiors in New York City's Russian Mob, to find and kill Alinejad for $500,000. The assignment, prosecutors said, came [[a year]] after a failed attempt on behalf of the government of Iran to kidnap the journalist in 2021. The defendants subcontracted the latest assignment to another member of their crime group, Khalid Mehdiyev, who lived about 25 miles north of New York City, in Yonkers, prosecutors said. Mehdiyev, identified in the indictment as "a co-conspirator not named as a defendant herein," testified that he was hired by the defendants to kill Alinejad and earlier pleaded guilty to lesser counts as he cooperated with the prosecution. The pair sent him $30,000, according to the indictment. Mehdviyev purchased a Norinco AK-47 replica for the job, it said. On July 28, 2022, after Mehdviyev told his superiors he was ready to pull the trigger, he was arrested in a traffic stop near Alinejad's Brooklyn home, where police said they found the gun, the indictment said. Also found: 66 rounds of ammunition and $1,100 in cash, both in suitcase in the vehicle, it said. Mehdviyev was under FBI surveillance, according to a 2022 affidavit in support of arresting and charging him for allegedly possessing a firearm without a serial number, a federal crime. According to the affidavit, agents watched Mehdviyev go up to Alinejad's porch the day before his arrest. In a social media post, Alinejad shared security video showing a man on her porch who she said "attempted to open the front door." 'The defendants participated in a brazen plot to kill an Iranian American dissident in New York who criticized the regime in Iran,' FBI counterintelligence acting director Roman Rozhavsky said in Friday's statement from the U.S. Attorney's Office. 'The FBI will not tolerate Iran's attempts to threaten, silence, or harm American citizens.' Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Friday welcomed the convictions, writing on X: "Yesterday's court decision shows Iran's attempts at lethal plotting against Americans like @AlinejadMasih will be met with swift justice & accountability." Alinejad came to the U.S. after she was banished from Iran in the wake of her coverage of corrupt politicians and the disputed outcome of its 2009 national election. After she arrived, she launched a social media campaign encouraging women in the country to post photos of themselves in public sans their government-required hijabs. Amirov and Omarov face the possibility of life in prison at sentencing, which is scheduled for Sept. 27, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office. ordered Voice of America to cut operations to the bare minimum under law.
