Two men convicted in Iranian plot to kill U.S.-based critic

Two Eastern European organized crime leaders have been convicted of murder-for-hire targeting U.S.-based journalist on behalf of Iranian government. Their target was journalist Masih Alinejad, outspoken critic of Iran and its treatment of women, a statement from the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.

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."

According to U.S. prosecutors, two men affiliated with an Azeri faction of the Russian mob collaborated with other members of the criminal organization in an attempt to assassinate Masih Alinejad. The plot was allegedly ordered by high-ranking officials of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).

Acting U.S. Attorney Matthew Podolsky stated that, for years, Iranian authorities had attempted to silence an outspoken Iranian journalist, activist and regime critic through any means necessary, including harassment, violence, intimidation, and even attempted murder. 

"Chillingly, the plot to murder this Iranian dissident culminated over 6,000 miles from Iran, on U.S. soil, right here in New York, when a hitman with an AK-47 camped outside her home to kill her. This verdict should send a clear message around the world:  if you target U.S. citizens, we will find you, no matter where you are, and bring you to justice,” - Podolsky stated.

A jury in Manhattan federal court found Rafat Amirov, 46, and Polad Omarov, 40, guilty of five charges including murder-for-hire over the planned assassination in 2022 of Masih Alinejad. 

Omarov and Amirov could face life in prison when they are sentenced by U.S. District Judge Colleen McMahon on Sept. 17.

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.

Prosecutors stated that the assignment came a year after a failed 2021 attempt to kidnap the journalist on behalf of the Iranian government.

"After these brazen efforts to kidnap Alinejad from the U.S. failed, the IRGC turned to Amirov and Omarov to locate, surveil, and murder her. Beginning in approximately July 2022, Amirov sent targeting information—which he had received directly from IRGC officials in Iran—about Alinejad to Omarov.  In turn, Omarov communicated this information to Khalid Mehdiyev," - said in the Superseding Indictment.

Khalid Mehdiyev, 27, who lived in Yonkers, about 25 miles north of New York City, repeatedly traveled to Alinejad’s neighborhood to surveil her.

He was arrested after running a stop sign, and police found an AK-47 rifle in his car.

“I was there to try to kill the journalist,” Mehdiyev testified. He cooperated with prosecutors after pleading guilty to attempted murder and illegal possession of a firearm.

Jurors also heard from Alinejad, who testified she saw a large man standing among flowers in her front yard in the summer of 2022, the same time Mehdiyev said he staked out her home.

"The guy was a little bit suspicious so I got panicked," Alinejad testified. "He was in the sunflowers, like, staring into my eyes."

Who is Masih Alinejad?

She left Iran in 2009 following the country’s disputed presidential election and later moved to the United States, where she launched online campaigns encouraging Iranian women to share photos and videos of their uncovered hair in defiance of the mandatory headscarf law.

In Iran, Alinejad said, a cleric had once told her “I’m going to punch on your face if you don’t cover your hair proper.”

An author and contributor to Voice of America, Alinejad became a U.S. citizen in October 2019. She has traveled the world speaking to women and encouraging others to join her movement for freedom of expression by women, particularly those in Iran.

She stated that Iranian authorities have repeatedly attempted to discredit her by labeling her a prostitute, a CIA agent, or even 'an agent' of President Donald Trump.

In 2020 and 2021, Iranian intelligence officials and assets plotted to kidnap Alinejad from within the U.S. for rendition to Iran in an effort to silence her criticism of the Iranian regime.

In 2022, shortly before the FBI relocated her after uncovering the assassination plot, she said the threats and insults had become so overwhelming that she felt 'a little bit broken.'

At that point, she testified, she began planting a flower for every insult and threat directed at her.

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