US charges Iran general in plot to kill dissident journalist
October 23, 2024
The US has issued fresh charges over what it alleges was a plot hatched in Tehran to kill an Iranian-American journalist in New York.
The US indicted several people in Iran including an Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) brigadier general, Ruhollah Bazghandi, court filings published on Tuesday showed.
Prosecutors have already charged three suspects in the case who remain in custody, one man in 2022 and two more in January 2023.
Tuesday's document did not name the victim, but one of the previously charged suspects in the case was arrested in possession of a rifle outside the Brooklyn home of Iranian-American journalist and activist Masih Alinejad.
Target calls charges a humiliation for Khamenei
Alinejad is a prominent and internationally active critic of the Iranian authorities. She also works for the US-funded Voice of America Persian-language network.
This has made her a frequent target of vitriol at anti-US demonstrations in Iran.
On Tuesday, Alinejad commented on the developments herself online.
She also alluded to the development beforehand, saying she'd had a meeting with the FBI and Department of Justice, that she could not yet disclose details, "but it's another beautiful day."
Tagging Iran's Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, she wrote: "Every time you and your IRGC are humiliated, it's a victory for us. I've moved 21 times between safe houses, but I'm stronger than ever."
What do we know about the suspects?
The indictment unsealed at a federal court in Brooklyn identified Ruhollah Bazghandi as a brigadier general with the IRGC who previously served as chief of the Revolutionary Guard's counterintelligence department.
Prosecutors alleged that Bazghandi's internet activity, along with that of three other people whose names were released on Tuesday, suggested they were involved in multiple assassination plots.
"Today's indictment exposes the full extent of Iran's plot to silence an American journalist for criticizing the Iranian regime," said FBI director Christopher Wray.
The new defendants are based in Iran and remain at large, prosecutors said.
Alleged hired killers facing trial in US
The man who had previously been arrested outside Alinejad's home, Khalid Mehdiyev, and another allegedly involved in the plot, Rafat Amirov, are in custody in the US and have pleaded not guilty to murder-for-hire charges.
Prosecutors allege that the men intended to lure the journalist out of her home by asking for flowers from her garden and then shoot her.
"The Justice Department has now charged eight individuals, including an Iranian military official, for their efforts to silence and kill a US citizen because of her criticism of the Iranian regime," Attorney General Merrick Garland said on Tuesday.
Garland said the US, "will not tolerate efforts by an authoritarian regime like Iran to undermine the fundamental rights guaranteed to every American."
msh/zc (AFP, AP, Reuters)