US charges alleged Iran-backed assassins in NYC murder plot

January 27, 2023 and   

(NY Post) The Justice Department on Friday charged three Azerbaijani gangsters with plotting to murder a Brooklyn-based Iranian-American author and activist last year.

The case stems from the July arrest of Khalid Mehdiyev, who was collared near Masih Alinejad’s home with an assault rifle after the beefy and bearded 24-year-old was filmed ringing Alinejad’s doorbell and lingering on her porch in a leafy part of the New York City borough.

The other two men facing charges are 43-year-old Rafat “Rome” Amirov, a resident of Iran who was arrested on Jan. 26 in New York, and 38-year-old Polad “Haci Qaqa” Omarov, who was arrested in the Czech Republic on Jan. 4.

Amirov is purportedly a leader of an Eastern European criminal organization whose members are identified by tattoos of eight-pointed stars.

Read more.

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