Two mobsters from the Caucasus have been convicted by a jury in New York of trying to murder Masih Alinejad on behalf of the Pasdaran, which offered them a half million dollars to eliminate the woman whose crime was becoming a burr under the saddle of the Islamic Republic.
Alinejad, now 48, was spurred into opposition to the regime about two decades ago by its requirement that she wear a headscarf. Her campaign against mandatory hejab has since become the central theme of the regime’s opponents, although corruption, authoritarianism and an economy that provides little opportunity are the concrete foundation for those disgusted with a government now in power for 46 years.
The two men convicted after a two-week trial in federal court in Manhattan are Rafat Amirov, 45, and Polad Omarov, 40. Both are members of Thieves-in-Law, a Russian gang (not an Azerbaijani gang as reported in the last issue). Amirov, an Azerbaijani national, was living in Tehran when he was hired. He recruited Omarov, a Georgian national who was living in Eastern Europe at the time.
The verdict was returned March 20, after four hours of jury deliberation and only a few hours after saat-e tahvil, the moment of the spring equinox, proclaimed the beginning of the new year in Iran.
Omarov and Amirov could face life in prison when they are sentenced by US District Judge Colleen McMahon on September 17.
The third figure in the murder plot is Khalid Mehdiyev, 27, also an Azerbaijani national and also a member of the same Russian gangster outfit. He will be tried later. He has confessed to being the actual gunman and appeared at the Amirov-Omarov trial to testify against them.
He said he was to be paid $30,000 for killing Alinejad, meaning Amirov and Omarov would be the ones to really profit from the crime when they were paid $500,000 by the Pasdaran.
Alinejad was not in court when the jury announced its verdict. She told The Associated Press she cried when she heard of the decision. “I am relieved that after nearly three years the men who plotted to kill me have been found guilty. But make no mistake, the real masterminds of this crime are still in power in Iran.”
She later said, “For the first time, the regime of the Islamic Republic is being held account able for bringing its campaign of terror to US soil. This is just the beginning of exposing and dismantling its network of violence.”
Alinejad fled Iran in 2009 when her outspokenness had gotten her in deep trouble. In London, she used Facebook and Instagram to promote her campaign, “My Stealthy Freedom,” which encouraged women who opposed mandatory hejab to take photos of themselves outdoors without a hejab. Many took photos in the mountains or at sites with no one else around. But others took photos of themselves hejabless in the middle of the city—and one woman showed herself with hair flowing and Supreme Leader Ali Khamenehi’s palace in the background.
Later, Alinejad moved to New York City and continued her campaign, much to the irritation of the Islamic Republic. She became a US citizen in 2019. Her Instagram account now has 8.7 million followers.
The Islamic Republic first plotted to kidnap her from her Brooklyn home, take her to a Brooklyn dock where a boat would take her to Venezuela, from which she could be flown back to Iran. The FBI uncovered that plot and foiled it.
The Pasdaran then shifted to murder. Testimony at the trial said that in 2022 Pasdar Brig. Gen. Ruhollah Bazghandi hired Amirov and Omarov, who in turn hired the more junior Mehdiyev to fire the actual shots.
In July 2022, Mehdiyev rented a car and parked on the Brooklyn street where Alinejad lived with her Iranian-American husband. Mehdiyev cased the scene and even watched her by looking through the windows of the house. But she didn’t emerge from the house. At one point, he walked onto her front porch where a doorbell security camera photographed him as he checked to see if the door was unlocked.
At another point, he walked into her front yard garden. Alinejad looked out her window and saw him standing there. Although she locked eyes with him, she said she initially thought he was just admiring her garden; she said a number of people she didn’t know had walked among the flowers. “He was in the sunflowers staring straight into my eyes,” she testified. Mehdiyev had bought a rifle with which to shoot her, but it was in his car at that time.
Alinejad testified in English but occasionally consulted with a Farsi translator. At one point, she commented in English, “God, I’m nervous.”
Mehdiyev testified for three days in what became the most significant testimony. The lawyers for Amirov and Omarov spent much of their time trying to discredit Mehdiyev, saying he was trying to save himself by shifting blame to others. Omarov’s attorney dismissed Mehdiyev as a “clown.” Amirov’s attorney described Mehdiyev as a “manipulative, violent, lying person.”
But they showed only respect for Alinejad and joined with the prosecution in issuing a statement stipulating as unchallenged that Iran plots assassination campaigns. Michael Martin, representing Amirov, told the jury in his closing argument, “Her [Alinejad’s] testimony, as courageous as it was, illustrated the contrast between Iran’s system and ours. Presumption of innocence is one way in which we distinguish ourselves from Iran.”
Mehdiyev spent at least two days waiting for Alinejad to emerge from her house. He had been told not to break into the house to shoot her because he might not have enough time in which to flee. The idea was for him to shoot her on the street, jump into his car and be gone in seconds. Mehdiyev spent at least two days waiting for Alinejad to emerge, sleeping in his car near her house.
The plot collapsed July 28, 2022, when Mehdiyev ended his wait, got into his car and drove away. He drove through a stop sign and police stopped him. When he couldn’t produce a valid driver’s license, they searched the car, finding the rifle in the back seat and a large volume of ammunition and a ski mask. They then arrested him.
Another person testifying at the trial was Mehdiyev’s mother, who lived in Azerbaijan. She said she got a call there from Omarov, demanding to know where her son was and complaining he had failed to carry out a job he had been hired to do. Unbeknownst to both of them, her son was then in jail in Brooklyn.
She testified that she and her husband were harassed by members of the Thieves-in-Law and that eventually the FBI brought the couple to the United States for safety.
