In New York City, a federal trial commenced where two Eastern European men are accused of being assassination operatives for the Iranian government. The men allegedly tried to murder Masih Alinejad, an Iranian-American journalist, seemingly at her residence in 2020. Alinejad’s purported crime? Advocating for women’s rights and unveiling human rights abuses by the Iranian regime.
Prosecutor Jacob Gutwillig explained to the jury that the Iranian government has been pursuing Alinejad for years because she exposed its abuses and encouraged political expression. The journalist fled Iran after the controversial 2009 presidential election and became a U.S. citizen by October 2019. Her continued activism highlights the Iranian regime’s oppression, leading Iran to allegedly target her.
Central to the prosecution’s case is Khalid Mehdiyev, who is cooperating with authorities and who admits to past affiliations with the Russian mob. Mehdiyev’s testimony, expected to play a crucial role, follows his own guilty plea on multiple charges. The police had detained him in mid-2022 near Alinejad’s home with an AK-47 found in his vehicle.
The defendants, Rafat Amirov and Polad Omarov, hail from Azerbaijan, a nation bordering Iran. The prosecutor asserted they wanted to eliminate Alinejad at the behest of Iran, in exchange for a lucrative payout and increased status within their criminal outfit. Allegedly, Iranian officials struck a deal with them after several failed attempts to tarnish or kidnap the journalist.
The defense lawyers, however, refuted the prosecution’s narrative. Michael Martin, representing Amirov, declared his client’s innocence, suggesting doubts about Mehdiyev’s credibility due to his unsavory criminal past. Meanwhile, Michael Perkins, defending Omarov, described him as a crafty individual who swindled the Iranian government without serious intent of carrying out any assassination plot.
According to authorities, the planned assassination was one of Iran’s efforts to silence Alinejad, whose advocacy has highlighted the regime’s repression, particularly concerning women’s rights. Her encouragement of Iranian women to share videos defying the enforced hijab laws reportedly infuriated the Iranian regime.
In her absence from the courtroom as she is set to testify herself, Alinejad expressed mixed emotions on social media, emphasizing the gravity of these threats against her. She underscored the risk targeted towards individuals calling out Iran’s oppressive measures, particularly concerning women’s rights in Iran.
