ALBAWABA - A member of a Russian organized crime group confessed during a testimony at a US trial of two associates on Tuesday that he attempted to assassinate Iranian-American journalist and activist Masih Alinejad.
It is well-known that Masih Alinejad is a women's rights activist and journalist who fled Iran in 2009 for opposing the Islamic regime and its strict rules against females. Alinejad was the first to speak up against the Iranian regime, which made her a target as she was always the first to oppose their rules and highlight the stories of hero females who stand up and rise against the Tehran government restrictions.
Among the stories the American-Iranian journalist was first to cover was the story of Mahsa Amini's brutal arrest and death. Mahsa Amini, 22, was killed in September 2022, after a three-day arrest by the morality police in Tehran as her family said she was subjected to horrible beating for wearing her hijab 'improperly'.
Who tried to kill Iranian activist Masih Alinejad?
Reuters reported that Azerbaijani hired killer Khalid Mehdiyev, 27, confessed that he was arrested in July 2022 inside his vehicle in Brooklyn, while in possession of an AK-47 rifle and a ski mask. He said he wanted to assassinate activist Masih Alinejad.
"I was there to try to kill the journalist," Mehdiyev said in a federal court in Manhattan. American prosecutors revealed that Mehdiyev was hired by the associates Rafat Amirov and Polad Omarov to kill the journalist.
Federal prosecutor Jacob Gutwillig revealed that the government in Tehran offered to pay Amirov and Omarov half a million dollars to orchestrate Alinejad's murder.
How Did Masih Alinejad Respond?
On her official accounts on social media, Masih Alinejad posted a a video of herself surrounded by the police and wrote: "If I saw that much police presence in front of my house in Iran, it would definitely mean they came to arrest me, for simply showing my hair, singing, or exercising my right to speak freely."
"I recorded this video just months after a man was arrested outside my Brooklyn home with a loaded gun. Today, in a federal court, he admitted he was sent by the Islamic Republic to kill me for the ‘crime’ of speaking out."
She added: "Profoundly grateful to U.S. law enforcement for not only protecting my life but also standing up for free speech. Free speech should never be punishable by death. "
