By james art WASHINGTON (TNND) — The Justice Department has unsealed an indictment charging individuals, including an Iranian military official, with murder-for-hire, money laundering and sanctions evasion. The charges stemmed from a conspiracy to silence an American citizen critical of the Iranian government, US Attorney General Merrick B. Garland announced.
We will not tolerate efforts by an authoritarian regime like Iran to undermine the fundamental rights guaranteed to every American,” Garland said in a statement.
FBI Director Christopher Wray emphasized the gravity of the charges, saying, “Today’s indictment reveals the full extent of Iran’s conspiracy to silence an American journalist critical of the Iranian regime. According to the charges, a brigadier general in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and a former Iranian intelligence officer working with a network of conspirators planned to kill a dissident living in New York.
The indictment names Ruhollah Bazgandi, Fnu Lnu, Haj Taher Hossein Sedighi and Seyed Mohammad Forouzan, all based in Iran, as orchestrators of the plot. They allegedly hired members of an Eastern European criminal organization to carry out the murder, which was stopped because one of the conspirators was allegedly on his way to kill the victim in New York.
U.S. Attorney Damien Williams for the Southern District of New York explained that in January 2023, members of an Eastern European criminal group participated in a conspiracy to kill the victim, Masih Alinejad. They did not act alone then, and on Tuesday the Iranians involved were charged.
The case is pending before US District Judge Colleen McMahon. The FBI investigation led to the arrest of conspirators, including Rafat Amirov, Polad Omarov, and Zilat Mamedov. Amirov and Omarov, who are in US custody, and Mamedov has been extradited to face charges in Georgia.
The indictment alleges that Bazgandi, a brigadier general in the IRGC, and his network led the assassination plot against Alinejad.
The charges carry heavy penalties, with murder-for-hire and conspiracy charges carrying a maximum of 10 years in prison, and money laundering and sanctions violations carrying up to 20 years. If convicted, the sentences will be determined by a federal district court judge.
Assistant Attorney General Matthew G. Olsen emphasized the Justice Department’s commitment to holding Tehran accountable. “Today’s indictment makes clear that the Iranian regime has for years been behind a violent campaign to hunt down, intimidate and orchestrate the assassination of an American dissident on American soil for speaking out boldly for the rights of the Iranian people,” Olsen said.