ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — Four Iranian nationals have been indicted for conspiracy to kidnap an exiled Iranian journalist based in Brooklyn, the United States Department of State announced on Tuesday.
“As alleged, four of the defendants monitored and planned to kidnap a U.S. citizen of Iranian origin who has been critical of the regime’s autocracy, and to forcibly take their intended victim to Iran, where the victim’s fate would have been uncertain at best,” said Audrey Strauss, US Attorney for the Southern District of New York.
The defendants are charged with conspiring to kidnap, violate sanctions against Iran, commit bank and wire fraud and launder money, according to the statement.
“A U.S. citizen living in the United States must be able to advocate for human rights without being targeted by foreign intelligence operatives,” Strauss added.
The statement said that the four “conspired to kidnap a Brooklyn journalist, author and human rights activist for mobilizing public opinion in Iran and around the world to bring about changes to the regime’s laws and practices.”
Plans to kidnap the victim began in June 2020, it said, and included transporting them to Venezuela, which has good relations with Iran, via military-style speedboat.
While the statement did not identify the intended victim, exiled journalist and human rights activist Masih Alinejad has said she was the target of the group and is now under police protection.
I am grateful to FBI for foiling the Islamic Republic of Iran's Intelligence Ministry's plot to kidnap me. This plot was orchestrated under Rouhani.
— Masih Alinejad 🏳️ (@AlinejadMasih) July 14, 2021
This is the regime that kidnapped & executed Ruhollah Zam. They've also kidnapped and jailed Jamshid Sharmahd and many others pic.twitter.com/HUefdEbiil
Alinejad runs a series of online human rights campaigns, including My Stealthy Freedom, a movement encouraging Iranian women and girls to film and document abuses committed by the morality police, and White Wednesdays, a campaign calling on women in Iran to protest forced veiling laws in Iran, which gathered widespread support among women and girls.
Her family have also been targeted by the Iranian authorities, a tool often used to exert pressure on opponents to Tehran.
In October 2020, the Coalition for Women In Journalism (CFWIJ) reported that Alinejad’s brother, Alireza, had been sentenced to eight years in jail.“Mr.Alireza is being punished for refusing to disown, discredit and atone his journalist and women rights defender sister, Masih Alinejad,” said the group.
"Arresting the relatives of an activist in an attempt to intimidate her into silence is a despicable and cowardly move," MENA Research and Advocacy Director for Amnesty International, Philip Luther said on September 2019.The Iranian foreign ministry spokesperson slammed the US statement, calling it "baseless" and "ridiculous" claiming it is not even worth answering.
"This is not the first time the US has brought up such Hollywood scenarios," Saeed Khatibzadeh said. "Such fictional stories are definitely not unlikely to come from the US whose short history is filled with terror, kidnapping, and sabotage in other countries."
"This time the American officials have really insulted the consiousness of the world with this naive plot," he added.Updated at 6:47 PM
