Iranian Agents Are Facing Charges For Their Role In A Plot To Kidnap A U.S. Journalist

https://www.npr.org/2021/07/14/ [login to see] /iranian-agents-are-facing-charges-for-their-role-in-a-plot-to-kidnap-a-u-s-journ
Federal prosecutors in New York charged five foreign agents backed by the Iranian government for their roles in a stranger-than-fiction plot to kidnap a U.S. citizen and journalist critical of the nation's regime.

The 43-page indictment unsealed Tuesday details the plan by an Iranian intelligence official and his three assets to track a Brooklyn-based journalist with the goal of bringing her back to Iran. The court records also include information on a fifth woman based in the U.S. who prosecutors say helped fund the operation.

The indictment in Manhattan federal court doesn't name the intended victim, who is described as a journalist and human rights advocate. However, The New York Times reports the journalist and author Masih Alinejad, confirmed in an interview that she was the intended target. Alinejad lives in Brooklyn and has family still in Iran.

Alinejad, who is a U.S. citizen, is a long-time critic of the Iranian government. She was a journalist in her native Iran for several years until she fled the country in 2009 following presidential elections and a government crackdown.

She's continued to work as a journalist with her Voice of America Persian show in the U.S. Alinejad also organizes "White Wednesday" and "My Stealthy Freedom" campaigns where women film themselves without head coverings, or hijabs, in public in Iran--in a challenge to the nation's government.