A federal judge in Manhattan on Wednesday sentenced two mobsters convicted of plotting to assassinate Iranian American journalist Masih Alinejad at her New York home to 25 years in prison.
The veteran theocrat had referenced the “No Kings” protests across the United States on Oct. 18 in a recent speech, calling on US President Donald Trump to listen to demonstrators and refrain from interfering in other countries.
“If you’re that capable, calm them down, send them back to their residences, and don’t interfere in the affairs of other countries,” Khamenei had said.
Ghadyani, 80, who is serving a prison sentence for “propaganda against the regime,” including a 2019 sentence for insulting Khamenei, said the 86-year-old ruler was in no place to lecture Trump.
“Sooner or later, the Iranian people will rise and dismantle the oppressive, authoritarian and anti-national system of Ali Khamenei,” Ghadyani wrote.
“The most peaceful path forward is for him to relinquish his grip on power, seek forgiveness from the Iranian people, and allow a referendum to establish a government of the people’s choosing.”
Insulting Khamenei, considered by Iran's theocratic establishment to be a holy figure, is a crime and Ghadyani has few peers among prominent critics in leveling direct attacks on him.
A former revolutionary turned outspoken dissident, he has faced multiple convictions for his political writings and public statements.
Ghadyani said Khamenei reveals his own hypocrisy and authoritarianism by urging the US president, in his interpretation, to suppress dissent as he does in Iran.
“This criminal autocrat unwittingly exposes his own nature by urging the US president to suppress dissent as he and his anti-people allies do in Iran,” he wrote.
Ghadyani challenged Khamenei’s concept of national security, arguing that it focuses solely on preserving power rather than protecting the Iranian people.
“For tyrants like him, national security and the safety of the people are meaningless. True security lies in the absence of authoritarian rule,” he wrote.
‘Let the public vote’
Authorities in Iran, where Khamenei is that ultimate decision maker, have suppressed with deadly force recurring rounds of anti-government protests in recent decades but have long bashed the rights records of Israel and the United States.
A long-time critic of Khamenei, Ghadyani dared the Iranian leader to test his popularity through a public vote.
“Khamenei dares not admit that over 95 percent of Iranians oppose him and the Islamic Republic. If he denies this, let him, just once, submit himself to a public vote and show the world how deeply the Iranian people reject him,” Ghadyani said.
His latest imprisonment follows a series of letters and speeches in which he has openly called for Khamenei’s resignation and the dismantling of Iran’s ruling system.
Iran continues to grapple with the aftermath of a punishing 12-day war in June against Israel and the United States and the the reimposition last month of UN sanctions triggered by Britain, France and the United Kingdom.
The case is one of the most high-profile yet dealing with Iran's so-called transnational repression, or bid to deploy violence to silence its critics abroad.
Prosecutors had argued that Rafat Amirov, 46, of Iran and Polad Omarov, 41, of Georgia were senior figures in a Russian crime group enlisted by members of Iran's Revolutionary Guards to kill Alinejad.
The men were convicted in March after a two-week trial that included testimony from Alinejad and a hired gunman turned witness for the prosecution.
Alinejad, an author and Voice of America contributor, said she would attend the sentencing to deliver an impact statement.
Pleading guilty
The FBI disrupted the assassination attempt after surveillance footage revealed suspicious activity near Alinejad’s residence. She was away at the time, a factor that may have saved her life.
Khalid Mehdiyev, a member of the Thieves in Law gang who was allegedly due to carry out the killing, said he received orders from the two to kill the journalist who uses her platform to expose the Islamic Republic’s repression.
He pleaded guilty to attempted murder and gun charges.
Alinejad, who has long criticized Iran’s compulsory hijab laws and its treatment of women, said she will speak at the sentencing not just for herself, but "for every woman who refuses to be afraid.”
The FBI’s Counterintelligence Division and its Iran Threat Task Force led the investigation with support from the NYPD and Czech authorities.
The Justice Department said Alinejad has previously been the target of IRGC-backed plots to kidnap or kill her for her activism, which includes highlighting Iran’s human rights record and advocating against compulsory hijab laws.
