A jury has found two men guilty on all counts of trying to kill Iranian dissident Masih Alinejad , who works as a journalist and lives in New York City.
Rafat Amirov and Polad Omaroy, both suspected members of the Russian mafia, will be sentenced in September and face decades in prison. They were charged with murder for hire, possession of guns, and conspiracy to launder money.
“I am glad that, some three years later, the guys who intended to assassinate me have been found guilty. But make no mistake: the true perpetrators of this murder are still in power in Iran. “I am waiting for the day when Ali Khamenei and his terrorist Revolutionary Guards face justice; I want them punished,” Alinejad said outside court.
“I’m feeling overwhelmed by emotions right now.” I have sobbed, laughed, and danced. Because it is about more than simply my safety; it is about defeating and humiliating a tyranny that thinks it can silence its opponents with gunfire. They failed. I’m still here. “And I will continue to fight until every criminal in that regime is held accountable,” she continued.
How the verdict came down
The jury received the case just before 1 p.m. on Thursday and subsequently issued a notice requesting testimony, although it was taking lawyers some time to compile documents. Before the jury had received the necessary materials, they issued another message stating that they had made a decision.
During closing arguments, prosecutors told jurors that the Iranian government had placed a $500,000 premium on Alinejad’s head in order to silence her, and that she had been the victim of various conspiracies by the Islamic Republic of Iran, including abduction.
The man who said he was hired to kill her was arrested in 2022 and testified during the trial.
Who is Masih Alinejad?
Alinejad said she fled the Islamic Republic of Iran in 2009 after they confiscated her passport and forced her to sign an agreement not to cover the election there. She relocated to the United States and covered it from there.
Alinejad, a Voice of America contributor, testified on Tuesday and was asked whether the regime had leveled charges against her because of the contract.
She said in court, “I’ve been accused of being an agent of the CIA,” MI6, and President Trump, among other things.
In 2022, she participated in two campaigns: a boycott of Iranian athletic events and a day of action calling for Iranian women to remove their hijabs.
She told the court, “My social media is like a weapon.” She said that her accounts were used to publish footage given to her from Iran showing women wandering unveiled and being harassed by morality police.
Prosecutors claim that same year, Iran’s authorities plotted to murder her.
The individual who accepted a plea bargain and testified for the government claimed to be a member of the Russian mafia and had been recruited to assassinate Alinejad. He photographed and videotaped inside her house before being detained nearby for running a stop sign. An AK-47 was in the backseat.
Alinejad recounted seeing him conversing on the phone one day outside her house.
“I saw the big guy,” she said. “He was gigantic.”