A jury has convicted two males of plotting to assassinate Iranian American journalist Masih Alinejad at her residence in New York Metropolis in a murder-for-hire scheme that prosecutors mentioned was financed by the Iranian authorities.
The decision was returned at a federal court docket in New York on Thursday, ending a two-week trial that featured dramatic testimony from a employed gunman and Alinejad, an creator, activist and contributor to Voice of America.
Prosecutors mentioned the convicted males, Rafat Amirov and Polad Omarov, have been crime bosses within the Russian mob. Their legal professionals argued that they have been harmless and trial proof was flawed.
Prosecutors mentioned Alinejad, 48, was focused by Iran for her on-line campaigns encouraging ladies there to report movies of themselves exposing their hair in violation of edicts requiring they cowl it in public.
Iran provided $500,000 for a July 2022 killing of Alinejad after efforts to harass, smear and intimidate Alinejad failed, prosecutors mentioned.
American officers have accused Iran of backing a number of assassination plots in america, together with towards President Donald Trump when he was campaigning final yr. Tehran has denied being behind any plots to kill folks within the U.S.
Alinejad, who was not in court docket, instructed The Related Press she cried when she realized concerning the verdict.
“I am relieved that after nearly three years, the men who plotted to kill me have been found guilty. But make no mistake, the real masterminds of this crime are still in power in Iran,” she mentioned.
Rafat Amirov and Polad Omarov, whom prosecutors mentioned have been crime bosses within the Russian mob, have been convicted in a murder-for-hire scheme that prosecutors mentioned was financed by the Iranian authorities.
Establishing herself in New York Metropolis, she constructed a web based viewers of tens of millions and launched her “My Stealthy Freedom” marketing campaign, telling Iranian ladies to ship images and movies exposing of them exposing their hair when the morality police weren’t round.
Quickly, she mentioned, she had impressed ladies to take to the streets in Iran on Wednesdays to peacefully protest, main the federal government to arrest lots of of them. The crackdown solely prompted her following to develop, nonetheless.
On the trial, prosecutors mentioned that by 2022, the Iranian authorities had enlisted high-level Russian mobsters, together with Amirov and Omarov, to kill Alinejad.
Khalid Mehdiyev, a former member of the Russian mob who lived Yonkers and labored at a pizzeria, testified that he was employed because the hitman. Like Amirov and Omarov, he’s from Azerbaijan, which shares a border and cultural ties with Iran.
Mehdiyev, who cooperated with prosecutors after pleading responsible to a number of crimes, mentioned he purchased an AK-47 to kill Alinejad however the plan was foiled when his automotive was stopped by police and the gun was discovered within the again seat in July 2022.
Prosecutors have stored the investigation open. In October they introduced fees towards a senior Iranian army official and three others, none of whom are in custody.
