Brooklyn Journalist Targeted In Iranian Kidnapping Plot: Feds

BROOKLYN, NY — An Iranian journalist living in Brooklyn was the target of an elaborate kidnapping plot aimed at silencing her criticism of the regime, according to prosecutors.

Court records unsealed Tuesday unveiled charges against four Iranian operatives who, with the support of their government, schemed for months to kidnap journalist Masih Alinejad and bring her to Iran.

Alinejad was not identified in the indictment, but has confirmed on Twitter and in interviews that she was the target of the plot. The Brooklyn-based journalist, a U.S. citizen, has publicized the Iran’s human rights abuses, prosecutors said.

“This is not some far-fetched movie plot," FBI Assistant Director William F. Sweeney Jr. said. "We allege a group, backed by the Iranian government, conspired to kidnap a U.S. based journalist here on our soil and forcibly return her to Iran. Not on our watch."

The four operatives — Alireza Shavaroghi Farahani, Mahmoud Khazein, Kiya Sadeghi, and Omid Noori — have been conspiring to kidnap Alinejad since at least June of last year, according to prosecutors.

Still at large in Iran, they are facing several conspiracy charges, including kidnapping, sanctions violations, bank and wire fraud and money laundering for the scheme, prosecutors said.

The kidnapping plot came after Iranian officials tried and failed to have Alinejad's relatives, who still live in Iran, lure her to a third country to be arrested or detained by the Iranian government, prosecutors said.

The operatives hired private investigators to surveil Alinejad's Brooklyn home, keeping tabs on her family, visitors and even her body language through photos, video and a high-definition live feed, according to prosecutors.

As they watched her, the operatives researched ways to bring Alinejad out of the country, including luring her to a waterfront neighborhood in Brooklyn and using military-style speedboats to take her out of New York City, prosecutors said.

They also considered the idea of taking her to Venezuela, whose regime has friendly relations with Iran, according to the indictment.

The plot is not the first time the Iranian intelligence network have tried to lure critics from the U.S. and other countries, prosecutors said. Among the evidence in the Alinejad's case is a photo of her with two other people captured by the Iranian operatives found on an electronic device used by Farahani, according to the indictment.

“Gradually the gathering gets bigger... Are you coming, or should we come for you?” the caption to the photo reads.

Tuesday's indictment also charged a fifth person, Niloufar “Nellie” Bahadorifar, who is accused of arranging payments to the private investigators used to surveil Alinejad. He is not charged in the kidnapping conspiracy, but is charged with conspiring to violate sanctions against Iran, to commit bank and wire fraud and to commit money laundering, according to prosecutors.

Bahadorifar, who is originally from Iran but lives in California, is the only of the five who is in custody.