US prosecutors have charged four Iranians, alleged to be intelligence operatives for Tehran, with plotting to kidnap a New York journalist who was critical of Iran, according to a Justice Department indictment unsealed on Tuesday.
While the indictment did not name the target of the plot, Reuters has confirmed she is Iranian-American journalist Masih Alinejad, who has contributed to the Voice of America Persian language service and reports on human rights issues in Iran.
Asked by Reuters to confirm that Alinejad was the target of the plot, the Department of Justice declined to comment.
According to the indictment, the four Iranians hired private investigators under false pretenses to surveil the unnamed journalist in Brooklyn, videotaping the victim’s family and home as part of a plot to take the person out of the country.
The four defendants planned “to forcibly take their intended victim to Iran, where the victim’s fate would have been uncertain at best,” said US Attorney Audrey Strauss for the Southern District of New York.
Reached by phone on Tuesday after the indictment was released, Alinejad said she was in a state of shock.
She said she had been working with the Federal Bureau of Investigation since the agency approached her eight months ago with photographs taken by the plotters.
“They showed me the Islamic Republic had gotten very close,” she said.
Alinejad said she had drawn the ire of Iran by publicizing women in Iran protesting laws requiring headcoverings, as well as accounts of Iranians killed in 2019’s demonstrations.
Prosecutors said in a press release that the journalist was targeted by Iran “for mobilizing public opinion in Iran and around the world to bring about changes to the regime’s laws and practices.”
Alinejad said the FBI agents moved her and her husband to a series of safe houses as they investigated the case.
She said she was still reeling from reading the indictment.
“I can’t believe I’m not even safe in America,” she said.
US charges four with plot to kidnap New York journalist critical of Iran
Latest from Blog
Il governo britannico ha ribadito giovedì il proprio sostegno al piano di autonomia presentato dal Marocco,
Il prefetto di polizia di Parigi, Patrice Faure, ha preso in carico un ordine per vietare
Il 2 aprile si celebra la Giornata Mondiale della Consapevolezza sull’Autismo, un’occasione rilevante per richiamare l’attenzione
Per la prima volta in oltre 50 anni, l’America torna sulla Luna con Artemis II, uno
Roberto Arditti, giornalista, autore e consulente di comunicazione, figura di spicco del mondo dell’informazione, delle istituzioni
C’è un silenzio che vale più di mille applausi. È quello che si è posato sulla
La Repubblica del Costa Rica ha dichiarato che l’iniziativa di autonomia presentata dal Marocco costituisce “la
Il Marocco si conferma tra i Paesi più sicuri al mondo secondo il Global Terrorism Index
Rabat – La Repubblica Ceca considera che una vera autonomia per il Sahara sotto sovranità marocchina
Roma, 24 marzo – Si è svolta oggi, nella prestigiosa Sala ISMA del Senato della Repubblica,