US Convicts Two Men Plotting to Assassinate Iranian-American Journalist Masih Alinejad

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Saturday reported the verdict of a federal jury which found two crime bosses who had been contracted to kill Iranian-American journalist Masih Alinejad on behalf of the Iranian regime guilty.

As per the US Department of Justice, the Iranian regime contracted Polad Omarov and Rafat Amirov to assassinate Masih Alinejad in return for USD 5,00,000.

In a tweet on X, Rubio wrote that the decision means deadly plots to murder Americans will be answered with “swift justice and accountability.” He further added that while US President Donald Trump is in charge, Iranian front groups and proxy groups will be ‘investigated, disrupted and prosecuted’.

“Yesterday’s court ruling illustrates Iran’s efforts to engage in deadly plotting against Americans such as @AlinejadMasih will be addressed through quick justice & accountability. In @POTUS, Iran’s proxy and front organizations that seek to work in the United States will be investigated, dismantled, & prosecuted”, Rubio posted on X.

Masih Alinjead is an Iranian-American journalist and women’s rights activist. As the American Congress has characterized her, she has been one of the most prominent critics of Iran.

“In July 2022, police officers apprehended a member of an East European crime group wielding an AK47 in front of her residence. That was one year after the FBI disrupted a plot by Iranian intelligence operatives to abduct Alinejad from Brooklyn and transport her to Venezuela and further to Iran,” the statement noted.

An Iranian native born and raised in Iran, Alinejad began her career as a parliamentary journalist in Tehran, who eventually had to leave Iran in 2009 following the repression of the rallies against the disputed presidential elections.

Reacting to the remarks of Marco Rubio, Alinejad expressed gratitude for his support and for standing against Iran’s “acts of terror on US soil.”

Blasting the Biden administration for not being tough with Iran, she tweeted, “Rather than imposing sanctions, they gave over billions of dollars, making the regime more confident in continuing its murderous operations using their proxies and even attacking @POTUS.”
It’s time to exercise strength and determination to make them pay. Grateful for your leadership, standing firm for freedom, and support of the Iranian people who yearn to end the dictatorship,” she posted on X.

In a statement released by the US Department of Justice (DOJ), a federal jury delivered guilty verdicts on all five counts of the indictment against Rafat Amirov of Iran and Polad Omarov of Georgia, who were found guilty of murder-for-hire and attempted murder in aid of racketeering charges, in a trial before the US District Judge Colleen McMahon.

The release stated that Amirov and Omarov face sentencing on September 17.”The defendants took part in a brazen plot to murder an Iranian American dissident in New York who condemned the regime in Iran,” FBI Counterintelligence Division Acting Assistant Director Roman Rozhavsky stated.

Citing the court filings, the DOJ stated that Amirov and Omarov were senior members of an Eastern European organised crime syndicate who collaborated with others to try and murder Masih Alinejad on behalf of senior members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).

DOJ reported that efforts had been made in 2020 and 2021 as well, where Iranian intelligence agents and assets planned to abduct Alinejad from inside the US for rendition to Iran with an intent to silence her voice of criticism against the Iranian government.

Amirov and Omarov were convicted on five counts, which include murder-for-hire, a crime that carries a maximum term of 10 years’ imprisonment; conspiracy to commit murder-for-hire, a crime that carries a maximum term of 10 years’ imprisonment; conspiracy to commit money laundering, a crime that carries a maximum term of 20 years’ imprisonment; attempted murder in aid of racketeering, a crime that carries a maximum term of 10 years’ imprisonment; and possession and use of a firearm in furtherance of the attempted murder, a crime that carries a maximum term of life imprisonment and a mandatory minimum term of five years’ imprisonment.