Khalid Mahdiev's Confession in Court: I Was There to Kill Masih Alinejad

A person who identifies himself as a member of a Russian criminal group testified in court on Tuesday, March 12, that he attempted to murder Masih Alinejad, an opposition journalist and host of the "Tablet" program on Voice of America, in New York. Khalid Mahdiev told the jury that he was arrested in July 2022 in his car in the Brooklyn area with an AK-47 and a ski mask. The 27-year-old testified against his associates, Rafat Amirov and Polad Amirov, in relation to conspiracy charges for murder. According to prosecutors, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps of Iran was apparently behind this conspiracy. The Amirovs, from Azerbaijan, claimed their innocence, but if found guilty, they could face decades in prison. Media defenders say this case shows the methods the Iranian government uses to silence its critics. The Iranian Foreign Ministry did not respond to Voice of America's request for comment. Prosecutors say the 45-year-old Amirov and the 40-year-old Polad Amirov hired Mahdiev to kill Alinejad, a critic of human rights violations in Iran. Alinejad, who left Iran in 2009, lives in New York and collaborates with the Persian section of Voice of America. According to the New York Times, citing U.S. officials, this conspiracy was thwarted after a member of the Russian criminal gang was exposed while surveilling Alinejad's residence in Brooklyn and attempting to break into her home. The assistant prosecutor described this conspiracy as part of the Iranian government's efforts over the past decade to silence a woman who has publicly exposed the regime's human rights abuses, including the silencing of political opponents. The prosecutor stated that Alinejad would explain her resistance to the Islamic Republic, her unwillingness to retreat, and the reasons behind the Iranian government's attempts to eliminate her to the jury. The prosecutor described Alinejad as an "inspiration for others" in Iran and around the world, stating that the Iranian government wants to kill her for this reason. He noted that Alinejad has angered the regime by shedding light on "the repression of women by the Islamic Republic." After U.S. federal officials first revealed the murder plot against Alinejad two years ago, Merrick Garland, then Attorney General of the United States, warned that the U.S. would not tolerate foreign powers threatening Americans or attempting to silence or harm them.