WASHINGTON — The Division of Justice has charged three members of an Jap European prison group with ties to Iran with making an attempt to assassinate a outstanding U.S. journalist and activist important of the Iranian regime.
In a 25-page indictment unsealed within the U.S. District Court docket for the Southern District of New York, the Division of Justice mentioned the three males have been enlisted final yr to homicide an American citizen of Iranian origin on U.S. soil. The particular person, who was not recognized by the Justice Division and solely described as "the sufferer," wrote critically about Iran’s remedy of ladies, protesters and different points, the indictment mentioned.
Quickly after the fees have been introduced, Masih Alinejad revealed that she was the goal of the assassination plot.
"I simply realized from 12 FBI brokers that the three males employed by the Iranian regime to kill me on US soil have been indicted. The Islamic Revolutionary Guards have been conducting these terrorist operations for 4 a long time. Islamic Republic is ISIS with oil. #WomanLifeFreedom," she tweeted.
The tried assassination occurred after the FBI and federal officers disrupted an Iranian group's earlier try and silence Alinejad on U.S. soil. However the second plot final summer time did not succeed both.
“Thankfully, their plot failed as a result of we didn’t,” FBI Director Christopher Wray mentioned at a press convention asserting the indictment.
The three defendants who have been charged are Rafat Amirov, Polad Omarov and Khalid Mehdiyev. Amirov, a citizen of Azerbaijan and Russia who was dwelling in Iran throughout the plot, was taken into custody in New York on Thursday. Mehdiyev, additionally a citizen of Azerbaijan, was dwelling in Yonkers, N.Y., and was arrested on the finish of July. Omarov, a citizen of Georgia, was arrested within the Czech Republic in early January and the U.S. will request his extradition to the U.S., the Justice Division mentioned.
The indictment alleges that Amirov was tasked in July 2022 by folks in Iran with focusing on the sufferer, saying he "acquired focusing on details about the sufferer." He despatched photos of the journalist's residence in Brooklyn, N.Y., to Omarov, which the indictment mentioned confirmed the time and battery stage in Farsi numbers "in keeping with the tasking originating from inside Iran."
Omarov then directed Mehdiyev to hold out the plot in opposition to Alinejad and Amirov and Omarov organized to pay Mehdiyev $30,000 in money. Mehdiyev then obtained an AK-47-style assault rifle to hold out the homicide, prosecutors mentioned.
Forward of the tried assassination, Mehdiyev "surveilled the sufferer and members of the sufferer’s household; took pictures and movies of the sufferer’s residence in Brooklyn and surrounding neighborhood; and devised schemes to lure the sufferer out of the sufferer’s home," the indictment mentioned.
Earlier than he may perform the plot, nonetheless, Mehdiyev was arrested close to Alinejad's house in July with the assault rifle in his possession.
"On the time of the arrest, Mehdiyev, on the route of Amirov and Omarov, was making ready imminently to execute the assault on the sufferer," the indictment mentioned.
Lawyer Common Merrick Garland mentioned on the press convention Friday that U.S. legislation protects its residents within the peaceable train of their constitutional and civil rights, because the journalist was doing in questioning Iran's actions.
"The Division of Justice won't tolerate makes an attempt by an authoritarian regime to undermine these protections and the rule of legislation upon which our democracy relies," Garland mentioned. "We won't tolerate makes an attempt by a international energy to threaten silence or hurt Individuals. We are going to cease at nothing to establish, discover and convey to justice those that endanger the protection of the American folks."
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