(NEW YORK) — Two men hired by Iran in a failed plot to kill Masih Alinejad, an Iranian dissident, author and activist, at her New York City home in 2022 were sentenced to 25 years in prison on Wednesday.
A Manhattan federal court jury convicted Rafat Amirov and Polad Omarov of murder-for-hire and attempted murder in aid of racketeering in March.
Federal prosecutors said the two partnered with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps in an attempt to silence one of Iran’s most vocal, internationally recognized and effective critics in exchange for half a million dollars.
“I looked these men in the eyes — men who intended to silence me for defending women’s freedom — and am still standing,” Alinejad said after the sentencing hearing.
The journalist said the verdict is a “victory for my fellow dissidents who continue to fight for freedom and refuse to be silenced.”
“For too long, dictators have treated America as their personal playground to orchestrate transnational oppression,” she said. “It’s past time the U.S. government makes clear that U.S. residents are protected and that if they are targeted on American soil, there will be consequences for the hitmen as well as the regimes that sent them.”
In a video posted on social media Wednesday morning, Alinejad said she was en route with the FBI to the federal courthouse for the sentencing “to face my would-be assassins” and read a victim impact statement.
“As you see, I’m wearing red because they were hoping to cover all over my body with blood,” she said. “I’m wearing red to celebrate my life.”
Ahead of the sentencing, prosecutors said Omarov and Amirov deserved 55 years in prison because they sought “to soak the Brooklyn streets with the victim’s blood.”
Meanwhile, Omarov’s attorney argued for a sentence of no more than 10 years and Amirov’s attorney argued for no more than 13 years.
Prosecutors said the pair is part of an Eastern European criminal organization with ties to Iran and wanted to use the bounty to build power and influence in the Russian mob.
“When Amirov and Omarov were presented with a $500,000 bounty to assassinate Ms. Alinejad, they pursued the assignment quickly and relentlessly,” federal prosecutors said.
Prosecutors said that in late July 2022, the triggerman hired by Amirov and Omarov “repeatedly traveled” to Alinejad’s Brooklyn neighborhood to surveil her.
At one point, the triggerman, Khalid Mehdiyev, saw Alinejad on her porch while he was walking around the neighborhood, and by the time he was able to make his way back to his car to retrieve an assault rifle, she had gone back inside, prosecutors said. “Alarmed” by the sight of Mehdiyev, Alinejad left her house on July 28, 2022, to stay with a friend out of state, prosecutors said.
Alinejad posted a video on social media of Mehdiyev outside her house on July 28, 2022.
When the triggerman drove away from the Brooklyn residence that day, the NYPD pulled him over for blowing a stop sign and driving on a suspended license. The officers arrested him and, during an inventory search of the car, found the assault rifle, as well as 66 rounds of ammunition, a ski mask, gloves and a bundle of cash, prosecutors said.
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