US Charges 3 in Plot to Kill Iranian-American Author in New York
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Justice Department has charged three men in an alleged plot originating in Iran to kill an Iranian-American author and activist who spoke out against human rights abuses there, officials said Friday.
The men, Rafat Amirov, 43, of Iran, Polad Omarov, 38, of the Czech Republic and Slovenia, and Khalid Mehdiyev, 24, of Yonkers, New York, were charged with money laundering and murder-for-hire in an indictment unsealed in federal court in New York. Three men were in custody and one was awaiting extradition to the United States
Masih Alinejad, an Iranian opposition activist, journalist and writer in exile in New York, confirmed to The Associated Press that she was the intended target.
“I’m not afraid,” Alinejad told the AP after US authorities announced the charges. “I want to tell you that the Iranian regime thinks that by trying to kill me, it will silence me or silence other women. But they only strengthen me, make me stronger to fight for democracy and give voice to the brave women who are facing guns and bullets in the streets to get rid of the Islamic Republic.”
She said FBI officials read her the messages the conspirators exchanged with each other, including the final one: “This will be done today.”
Iran’s mission to the United Nations did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the allegations. Iran’s state media did not immediately acknowledge the alleged plot late Friday.
Although the man who allegedly orchestrated the plot lives in Iran, the indictment does not directly accuse the state’s theocracy of being behind the alleged hit-and-run.
Still, the case “follows a troubling pattern of efforts by the Iranian government to kill, torture and intimidate activists for standing up for the fundamental rights and freedoms of Iranians around the world,” said White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan.
Mehdi was arrested last year after he was found driving around Masih’s Brooklyn neighborhood with a loaded AK-47-style rifle and dozens of rounds of ammunition. Alinejad told The Associated Press at the time that authorities told her the man was looking for her and that security video caught him hiding outside her front door.
“The Iranian government has previously targeted dissidents around the world, including the victim, who oppose the regime’s human rights abuses,” Attorney General Merrick Garland said when the charges were announced.
He said that “individuals in Iran” tasked the defendants with carrying out the plan to kill the activist.
“The victim publicized human rights abuses by the Iranian government, discriminatory treatment of women, suppression of democratic participation and expression, and the use of arbitrary imprisonment, torture and executions,” Garland said. In 2019, “this activity has so threatened the Iranian government that the chief judge of Iran’s Revolutionary Courts has warned that anyone who sends a victim videos criticizing the regime will face prison terms.”
In 2021, an Iranian intelligence official and three others were accused of plotting to kidnap the victim, he said.
All three accused are originally from Azerbaijan, which shares a border and cultural ties with Iran.
Amirov made his first appearance in court in New York and attorney Michael Martin entered a not guilty plea on his behalf. The defense did not immediately request bail in a brief court appearance. Amirov used an interpreter for Russian, as he speaks it, although it is not his first language.
Mehdi’s lawyer declined to comment Friday. Omarov was arrested in the Czech Republic earlier this month. It was not immediately clear if he had an attorney to speak on his behalf.
“This case also highlights the evolving threat and increasingly brazen behavior emanating from Iran,” said Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco. She also pointed to charges against members of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps for allegedly plotting to assassinate a former US national security adviser, as well as charges against Iranian hackers accused of attacks on utility companies.
In recent years, Iran’s intelligence and security services have stepped up their use of “transnational repressive tactics” to target political opponents and critics, FBI Director Christopher Wray said. In addition to kidnapping and assassination plots, the tactics included surveillance, cyber operations and intimidation of family and friends in Iran, he said.
“The Iranian government’s efforts to silence its critics are not limited to Iran’s borders,” Wray said.
Tensions between the United States and Iran are even higher than usual, as attempts by the Biden administration to revive a 2015 deal to limit Iran’s nuclear program have failed and the United States has condemned Iran’s attacks on protesters there. Iran is also accused of providing Russia with drones that play an important role in Russian attacks on civilian targets in Ukraine.
Alinejad told the AP that she hopes the ruthlessness of Iranians plotting to kill an American citizen on American soil will persuade President Joe Biden to heed calls from some in Congress and elsewhere to put Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps on the US list terrorist entities.
“They are actually challenging the American authorities to see what the consequences will be if there is no punishment, and there is no reason for them to stop killing innocent Americans or innocent Iranians,” she said.
Alinejad, who worked as a journalist in Iran for years, has long been a target of the theocracy after fleeing the country following a disputed 2009 presidential election and crackdown.
She is a prominent figure on Farsi-language satellite channels abroad that are critical of Iran, and has worked as a performer for a US-funded Farsi-language network since 2015, becoming an American citizen in October 2019.
In her “White Wednesday” and “My Hidden Freedom” campaigns, women in Iran were filmed in public without head coverings or hijabs, which can lead to arrests and fines. It is also amplifying the voices of those protesting in Iran since the September death of Mahsa Amini, who died after being arrested by the morality police.
The three defendants, meanwhile, are members of an Eastern European criminal organization with ties to Iran, according to court documents.
Amirov, the leader of the group, who lives in Iran, “was tasked” to attack it by unnamed people there, the indictment states. Garland declined to provide further details on the origin of the orders. Amirov contacted Omarov, who lives in Eastern Europe, and they brought Mehdiyev from New York and gave him $30,000 in cash. Mehdiyev got a rifle and began watching her house in July, US authorities said.
He took photos and videos and devised ways to lure her out for more than a week, the indictment says. At one point, Mehdiyev described himself as “at the scene of the crime.”
But on July 28, Alinejad left her home after seeing something suspicious. When Mehdiyev tried to drive away soon after, he was pulled over by a New York City police officer. Police found a gun, ammunition magazines, cash and a black ski mask. He was arrested on federal firearms charges.
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Associated Press writers Jon Gambrell in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Alanna Durkin Richer in Boston and Jennifer Peltz in New York contributed to this report.