(PresidentialWire.com)- Four Iranian nationals have been charged over an alleged plot to kidnap a human rights activist and journalist based in Brooklyn.
Court records reveal that the Iranian nationals were targeting a “U.S. citizen of Iranian origin” who was named “Victim 1” in the court records for posting material critical of the Iranian government.
It shows just how far the Iranian regime will go to target dissenters who may have stray from their hardline Jihadist position.
On Tuesday, an indictment from the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York was published, showing charges against Alireza Shavaroghi Farahani, an intelligence official from Iran, as well as Omid Noori, Kiya Sadeghi, and Mahmoud Khazein, who were referred to as “Iranian intelligence assets.”
All four Iranian nationals were charged with conspiracy to kidnap and conspiracy to violate the International Emergency Economic Powers Act as well as sanctions against the Iranian government. They are also charged with conspiracy to commit bank fraud, wire fraud, and money laundering.
The documents explain how the four foreign nationals had been working since June 2020 to pull off the kidnapping. The journalist in question, however, remains anonymous and is described in the court filings and a journalist and author who has “publicized the government of Iran’s human rights abuses.”
The author in question is not quite as shy as the lawyers. Masih Alinejad confirmed in an interview with The New York Times that she was the target of the operation. She has previously written in the Washington Post that officials from the Iranian government had run a social media campaign encouraging people to abduct her.
Alinejad is a long-time critic of the Iranian regime and radical Islam, and uses her huge online platform to campaign against Islamism.
On July 13, Alinejad published a video showing police officers outside of her apartment. She thanked the FBI for foiling the plot to kidnap her.
I am grateful to FBI for foiling the Islamic Republic of Iran's Intelligence Ministry's plot to kidnap me. This plot was orchestrated under Rouhani.
This is the regime that kidnapped & executed Ruhollah Zam. They've also kidnapped and jailed Jamshid Sharmahd and many others pic.twitter.com/HUefdEbiil
— Masih Alinejad 🏳️ (@AlinejadMasih) July 14, 2021
You’ve got to be brave to stand up to Iran like that!
