Justice Department announces additional arrests in Iranian writer’s murder case

The Justice Department announced Friday that it has indicted three men in connection with an Iranian plan to kill Masih Alinejad, a Brooklyn-based American human rights activist who has spoken out against the oppression of women in the country.

In an indictment released in Manhattan, the men, Rafat Amirov of Iran, Polad Omarov of the Czech Republic, and Khalid Mehdiyev of Azerbaijan, were charged with murder for hire and money laundering conspiracy. According to the indictment, the three men are members of the Thieves in Law criminal organization from Eastern Europe with ties to Iran and accused of killing Ms. Alinejad last year.

After a loaded AK-47 assault rifle was found outside Ms. Alinejad’s house in July, 24-year-old Mr. Mehtiyev was taken into custody. According to the indictment, Mr. Mehdiyev “immediately prepared to carry out an attack” on instructions from two other individuals.

According to the indictment, Mr. Omarov wrote to Mr. Amirov on July 27 and said: “This problem will be solved today, brother.” I asked them to give me a birthday present.

After controversy surrounding the appointment of two special advisers to investigate how former presidents Donald J. Trump and Joe Biden handled classified documents, Attorney General Merrick B. Garland sought to highlight external threats posed by increasingly aggressive foreign players, notably Iran and China. .

According to Lisa O. Monaco, Deputy Attorney General, “rogue governments and criminal organizations are joining forces and sharing opportunities, national security and crime interests are increasingly mixed in the United States.”

She stated that too often “they seek security in countries that they think will protect and strengthen them, in this case Iran.”

Attorney for the Southern District of New York Damian Williams said: “Let me be clear: in the United States, freedom of speech is a hallmark of our Constitution. You are marked for death in Iran. We will protect the rights of our citizens to freedom of speech.

Journalist Ms. Alinejad, who claims she was expelled from Iran more than a decade ago, has been highly critical of the country’s leadership.

In a statement to The New York Times, she said the FBI briefed her on the allegations against the three people on Friday.

It was scary, but Ms. Alinejad said, “I’m not worried about my life.” “My heroes are the brave Iranian women who are leading the progressive movement Woman, Life, Freedom to overthrow this terrorist government.”

The Southern District of New York and the FBI announced they thwarted a plan to kidnap Ms. Alinejad and forcefully transport her to Iran, where she would likely be executed, 18 months before charges were filed. An intelligence officer and others identified as intelligence agents were among the four Iranians charged with the kidnapping plot. According to authorities, all four are still at large.

Since his arrest, Mr. Mehtiyev, the guy police say was found outside Ms. Alinejad’s house with a machine gun, has been in detention.

According to prosecutors, the United States will seek the extradition of 38-year-old Omarov, who was detained on January 4 in the Czech Republic. Amirov, 43, was detained abroad last week and charged in Manhattan on Friday, according to a senior law enforcement official.

Mr. Amirov stood with his chest puffed out, his jaw thrust forward and his large arms flailing as he entered the courtroom. He sat with his knee bouncing during the brief trial, speaking through an interpreter that he understood the charges against him. He declared his innocence and was taken into custody.

The plot, Mr. Garland said, was Tehran’s long-term attempt to silence Ms. Alinejad, who wrote in The New York Times about the reasons she was forced to leave her country in 2009.

This eventually led to her press card being withdrawn. “As a journalist in Iran, I have often had difficulty exposing the incompetence and corruption of the regime,” she wrote.

Although the indictment does not explicitly state this, a connection is made between the assassination plan and Iranian leaders. The Iranian representative to the UN did not immediately respond to a request for a response.

The indictment alleges that the defendants began plotting to kill Ms. Alinejad in July last year when Mr. Amirov, the defendant based in Iran, obtained “targeted” data, including photographs of Ms. Alinejad’s house from an online mapping -service, her address and two photographs of her from other unnamed individuals in Iran.

He passed the details on to Mr. Omarov, a Georgian citizen living in Eastern Europe.

Mr. Mehtiyev went to Brooklyn and handed over to Mr. Amirov and Mr. Omarov the photographs and video he had recorded of Ms. Alinejad’s house.

The indictment alleges that they later planned to give Mr. Mehdiyev $30,000 in cash so he could buy a machine gun and carry out the murder.

Mr. Mehdiyev took a photo of the money with a rubber band and sent it to Mr. Omarov.

According to the indictment, not all of the money was used for an alleged plot alleging that Mr. Mehtiyev transferred $10,000 to a “romantic partner in Eastern Europe.”

He acquired a machine gun with a destroyed serial number on July 19.

The next day, he allegedly wrote to a housemate saying, “You’ll go crazy if you see this.”

Over the next week, Mr. Mehtiyev made frequent trips to Brooklyn to look after Ms. Alinejad, her family, and home.

Mr. Omarov contacted Mr. Mehdiyev on 24 July and inquired about his whereabouts at one of the exchange offices mentioned in the indictment.

Mr. Mehdiyev replied: “At the scene of the crime.

“GOOD. You’re a man, man!” Omarov replied.

“We blocked her from all sides, it will be a show as soon as she leaves the house,” Mr. Mehdiyev replied in his reply letter.

On July 26, Mr. Mehtiyev and Mr. Omarov discussed via text message several approaches to lure Ms. Alinejad to her front door, such as offering her flowers from her garden. However, the indictment states that she did not come to the door.

The indictment alleges that on July 28, Mr. Mehdiyev once again visited Ms. Alinejad’s house and handed over to Mr. Omarov a video he had filmed from inside his car. We are ready, it says, as Mr. Mehdiyev showed the firearms in his luggage.

Later that day, Ms. Alinejad left the area after noticing unusual activity near her home, and Mr. Mehtiyev followed her about 15 minutes later, according to the indictment. After stopping him for a traffic violation, NYPD officers found a handgun, two ammo magazines, about 66 rounds of ammunition, a black ski mask, and about $1,100 in cash in his car.

The indictment alleges that Mr. Mehdiyev illegally acquired a mobile phone and used it to communicate with Mr. Omarov and others after he was ordered to be held in a federal prison. He requested money in one message in exchange for food and cigarettes, sending a photo of his prisoner ID and a photo of his cell as proof of his detention.

On August 7, Mr. Amirov and Mr. Omarov spoke about how the detention of Mr. Mehdiyev was covered in the media.

Brother, they loved him,” Mr. Amirov wrote.

Mr. Omarov replied, “I hope he doesn’t cause me any trouble.

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