U.S. Federal Police Foil Plot to Kidnap Masih Alinejad
The U.S. Department of Justice has filed charges against four intelligence officers of the Islamic Republic on suspicion of attempting to kidnap Masih Alinejad. The team of officers allegedly intended to abduct Alinejad from his home in Brooklyn and transport him to Venezuela by speedboat.
An attempted kidnapping by an Islamic Republic intelligence team targeting Masih Alinejad and transporting him to a third country has been thwarted by the vigilance of U.S. federal police. A statement from the U.S. Department of Justice identified these individuals as Alireza Shavaroghi Farahani, Mahmoud Khazein, Kia Sadeghi, and Omid Nouri.
All four individuals, identified as members of an Islamic Republic intelligence network, reside in Iran. According to reports, the team, led by Alireza Farahani, intended to steal Alinejad from his Brooklyn home, take him to the shore, and transport him to Venezuela by speedboat.
In the U.S. Department of Justice statement, it is noted that Islamic Republic officers had hired a private investigator over the past two years to monitor Masih Alinejad.
The Manhattan District Attorney’s office stated that the four defendants in the case had been monitoring Masih Alinejad for a long time and were attempting to lure him to a third country, forcibly kidnap him, and take him to Iran: “where it was unclear what fate he would suffer.”
An Iranian woman residing in California was also arrested and interrogated as part of this case. Nilofar Bahadori Far was detained two weeks ago on charges including “financial support for the kidnapping plan,” “conspiracy to violate sanctions, banking violations, and money laundering,” but is now released on bail.
The four fugitives now under pursuit are charged, in addition to kidnapping, with conspiracy to violate U.S. sanctions, conspiracy to commit bank fraud and wire transfers, and conspiracy to commit money laundering.
Masih Alinejad thanked the U.S. Federal Police on Twitter for thwarting the plot to abduct him.
This journalist and activist previously stated that Islamic Republic officers had intended to deceive and abduct him to Turkey.
According to the District Attorney’s office, the plot to kidnap Alinejad was part of a broader scheme that included the deception and transfer of three other individuals from Canada and one individual from Britain.
The Manhattan District Attorney’s office, in its statement on the foiling of the kidnapping plot, declared that it is the right of citizens to defend freedom of expression and human rights without fear of foreign intelligence services.
Source: DW
