Federal prosecutors in the United States on Friday announced charges against three members of an “Eastern European criminal organization”. They concern participation in the thwarted attempt to murder Iranian American journalist Masih Alinejad. The head of the group was arrested on Thursday in New York.
According to court documents, the three would-be bombers are residents of Iran head of an Eastern European criminal organization with ties to Iran Rafat Amirov, alias “Rim” (“Rome”), Polad Omarov, who lives in the Czech Republic and Slovenia, and Khalid Mehdiyev, a resident of New York.
All three allegedly belonged to a gang that specializes in murder, kidnapping and extortion, and its members identify themselves with eight-pointed star tattoos.
From June 2022, the men were to prepare – at the request of a person from Iran – to assassinate the journalist of “Voice of America” Masih Alinejad, a prominent US critic of the Iranian regime. – Victim publicized violations human rights by the Iranian government, discriminatory treatment of women, suppression of participation in demonstrations and arbitrary use of prison sentences, torture and executions, said Attorney General Merrick Garland, without giving the journalist’s name.
Masih AlinejadGardiner Anderson/New York Daily News/Tribune News Service via Getty Images
According to the documents, the woman’s movements were tracked and plans were made to lure her to the scene of the murder. The men had previously taken 30,000. dollars, for which they bought, among other things, a rifle. One of the men, who was being watched by investigators, was caught during a roadside check where a gun was found on him.
This is another foiled attack in the US, which the regime in Tehran is suspected of ordering
Mehdiyev was arrested in July 2022 in New York, Omarov on January 4 in the Czech Republic, and the leader of the Amirov group on Thursday in New York.
Alinejad was supposed to be the target of a thwarted kidnapping plan by Iranian services in 2021. This is yet another foiled attack in the US, which the regime in Tehran is suspected of ordering. Earlier, US law enforcement revealed attempted assassinations of former US Foreign Minister Mike Pompeo and former National Security Adviser John Bolton.
– United States will not allow Iran or other authoritarian regimes to export efforts to suppress peaceful dissidents through threats and intimidation who are legally residing in our country. And we will hold those involved in such actions to account, according to the law, as we are doing today. Joe Biden for national security Jake Sullivan.
Main photo source: PAP/EPA/SHAWN THEW