Two men face US trial over Iran-backed plot to kill dissident

Two individuals charged with being part of a Russian organized crime syndicate will go to trial in the United States on Monday for what prosecutors describe as a failed Tehran-supported effort to assassinate an Iranian dissident residing in New York.

Federal prosecutors allege that Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guard Corps recruited Rafat Amirov and Polad Omarov in 2021, who are associated with a “Russian mob” faction, to assassinate an Iranian American journalist and activist critical of the Iranian government’s conduct towards women.

Amirov, aged 45, and Omarov, aged 40, have denied the charges of murder for hire and attempted murder related to racketeering.

Omarov’s attorney, Elena Fast, stated, “Mr. Omarov is considered innocent.” Amirov’s attorneys did not reply to a request for comments. In legal documents, attorneys for both individuals claimed it was “incorrect” to label them as part of the Russian mob.

Prosecutors have not identified the individual targeted by the purported scheme, who they indicated in legal documents is anticipated to give evidence at the trial.

Masih Alinejad, a journalist who departed from Iran in 2009, informed that she was the target of the supposed murder scheme and a prior alleged effort by Iranian intelligence agents to abduct her and return her to Iran.

Alinejad has highlighted the protests by women in Iran against laws mandating head coverings, along with reports of Iranians who were killed during demonstrations in 2019.

The allegations were part of a wider initiative by the Justice Department under former President Joe Biden to combat transnational repression, or attempts by U.S. adversaries such as Iran and China to silence dissidents within the United States.

The two-week trial may offer insights into the supposed connections between the Iranian government and criminal groups that prosecutors claim it employs for its “dirty work.”