(AP) Two members of an Eastern European criminal organization were “hired guns for the government of Iran” in a plot to assassinate an Iran-born journalist at her New York City residence three years ago, a prosecutor told a federal jury in an opening statement on Tuesday at the start of a trial for the men.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Jacob Gutwillig said the plot to assassinate Masih Alinejad was part of Iran’s more than decade-long quest to silence a woman who exposed the Iranian regime for human rights abuses and for silencing political expression.
The prosecutor told jurors they will hear the author and contributor to Voice of America explain why the government of Iran wanted to silence her.
