American PEN Association Criticizes Islamic Republic's Attempt to Assassinate Masih Alinejad

The American PEN Association on Friday, November 9, referred to another plot to assassinate Masih Alinejad, a women's rights activist and journalist, and urged the U.S. government to continue its efforts to prevent these transnational threats against writers and exiled dissidents. The American PEN Association expressed that it was 'horrified' by the news of another assassination plot against Alinejad, emphasizing that Iranian officials must stop their horrific efforts to silence and even kill those who challenge their regime. Alinejad, on Friday evening, shared a video on social media platform 'X' stating that the FBI had informed her of the Islamic Republic's plot to kill her. She mentioned that she was shocked to hear this news, adding, 'I learned that the person who was tasked with assassinating Donald Trump was also assigned to kill me on U.S. soil.' The U.S. Department of Justice released details on Friday regarding the indictment related to thwarting an Islamic Republic plot to assassinate Donald Trump, the then President-elect, before the presidential elections. According to the criminal indictment filed in the federal court in Manhattan, an anonymous official of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) had ordered one of the regime's agents in September to prepare a plan to monitor and ultimately kill Trump. The U.S. Department of Justice also stated that Farhad Shakri, a 51-year-old resident of Iran, and Carlyle Rivera, 49, and Jonathan Ludhlet, 36, both residents of New York, were charged with involvement in the murder plot of 'an Iranian-American citizen in New York.' According to the statement, Rivera and Ludhlet were arrested on Thursday, November 8, while Shakri is likely in Iran. Merrick Garland, the U.S. Attorney General, stated that there is no threat to U.S. national security as serious as that posed by the Islamic Republic. He noted that the Department of Justice has charged an IRGC agent who was tasked by the Iranian government with leading a network of criminals to carry out assassination plots against targets like Trump. Garland added that two others, who were hired as part of this network to silence and kill a critical American journalist on U.S. soil, have been arrested and charged. The U.S. Attorney General emphasized that the U.S. will not tolerate the Islamic Republic's efforts to jeopardize the national security of the United States and its citizens. Previously, a federal court in New York on October 23 charged Ruhollah Bazghandi, the former head of the IRGC's counterintelligence department, and three others with participating in a plot to assassinate Masih Alinejad. According to the federal indictment, they were accused of participating in a plan to kidnap and kill Alinejad in 2022. Earlier, U.S. prosecutors had charged one individual about two years ago and two others at the beginning of last year for plotting to assassinate Alinejad. These three individuals were citizens of Azerbaijan and members of criminal gangs in Europe and the United States. Reuters reported in mid-October that the Islamic Republic has been involved in at least 33 assassination or kidnapping attempts in Europe and the U.S. since 2020.