Two convicted in murder-for-hire plot of US-Iranian journalist

Two men have been convicted in a murder-for-hire scheme targeting an Iranian-American journalist at her Brooklyn home.

A federal jury in New York found Rafat Amirov and Polad Omarov guilty of plotting to assassinate reporter Masih Alinejad in July 2022. They face decades in prison.

Prosecutors said Iran’s government funded the plot and targeted Ms Alinejad over her campaigns against the mandatory wearing of headscarves for Iranian women.

Iran’s government, which has been accused in several plots targeting Ms Alinejad, has called such allegations “ridiculous and baseless”.

The two men, who prosecutors said were Russian mobsters, were found guilty on charges that included murder for hire, firearms possession and conspiracy to commit money laundering.

The Manhattan jury returned their verdict after deliberating for just over three hours following a two-week trial.

Prosecutors said Iran attempted several times over the years to silence and threaten Ms Alinejad, including a failed kidnap plot that led to the arrest of four Iranian intelligence officials in 2021.

When those efforts failed, they put a $500,000 (£385,793) bounty out for her killing, the US government said.

After the verdict, Ms Alinejad, who worked for Voice of America after leaving Iran in 2009, said she was “bombarded with emotions”.

“I have cried, I have laughed, I have even danced. Because today is not just about my survival; it is about the defeat and humiliation of a regime that believes it can silence its critics with bullets,” said Ms Alinejad, who was not in court, in a statement.

“They failed. I am still here. And I will keep fighting until every criminal in that regime faces their reckoning.”