The Justice Department released the below information yesterday:
The Justice Department announced today the unsealing of a
superseding indictment containing murder-for-hire, money-laundering, and
sanctions evasion charges against Ruhollah Bazghandi, also known as Roohollah
Azimi; Fnu Lnu, also known as Haj Taher, Haj Taher; Hossein Sedighi; and Seyed
Mohammad Forouzan, all of Iran.
“The Justice Department has now charged eight individuals,
including an Iranian military official, for their efforts to silence and kill a
U.S. citizen because of her criticism of the Iranian regime,” said Attorney
General Merrick B. Garland. “We will not tolerate efforts by an authoritarian
regime like Iran to undermine the fundamental rights guaranteed to every
American. Three of the defendants charged in this horrific plot are now in U.S.
custody, and we will never stop working to identify, find, and bring to justice
all those who endanger the safety of the American people.”
“Today’s indictment exposes the full extent of Iran’s plot to
silence an American journalist for criticizing the Iranian regime,” said FBI
Director Christopher Wray. “According to the charges, a brigadier general in
the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and a former Iranian intelligence
officer, working with a network of conspirators, planned to kill a dissident
living in New York City. The FBI’s investigation led to the disruption of this
plot as one of the conspirators was allegedly on their way to murder the victim
in New York. As these charges show, the FBI will work with our partners here
and abroad to hold accountable those who target Americans.”
“Today’s indictment makes plain that the Iranian regime for
years has been behind a violent campaign to stalk, intimidate, and arrange the
killing of an American dissident on U.S. soil for bravely speaking up for the
rights of the Iranian people,” said Assistant Attorney General Matthew G. Olsen
of the Justice Department’s National Security Division. “The Department is
committed to exposing and holding accountable those in Tehran who believe they
can hide their hand in carrying out such reprehensible activities.”
“As alleged, for years, the Government of Iran has attempted to
assassinate, on U.S. soil, a U.S. citizen of Iranian origin who is a prominent
critic of the Iranian regime,” said U.S. Attorney Damian Williams for the
Southern District of New York. “In January 2023, we unsealed charges alleging
that members of an Eastern European crime group engaged in a plot to murder
this victim. As we allege, that group was not acting alone. Today, we hold
their Iranian masters to account, and allege that these Iran-based
co-conspirators, including a Brigadier General in the Islamic Revolutionary
Guard Corps, directed the murder plot. By charging these Iran-based
defendants, we seek to strike another public blow at the heart of the
Government of Iran’s efforts to execute the victim — as well as its lethal
targeting, intimidation, and repression of other Iranian dissidents critical of
the regime in the U.S. and abroad.”
As detailed in the superseding indictment, Bazghandi, Haj Taher,
Sedighi, and Forouzan contracted members of an Eastern European criminal
organization, including Rafat Amirov, also known as Farkhaddin Mirzoev,
Pᴎᴍ, and Rome; Polad Omarov, also known as Araz Aliyev, Polad Qaqa, and
Haci Qaqa; and Zialat Mamedov, also known as Ziko, to murder a U.S. citizen of
Iranian origin in New York City who has publicly opposed the Iranian government
and who has previously been the target of similar plots by the Iranian
government. Amirov, Omarov, and Mamedov previously were arrested on charges
contained in underlying indictments. Amirov and Omarov are in custody in the
United States, pending trial; Mamedov was extradited from the Czech Republic to
the Republic of Georgia to face charges there. Bazghandi, Haj Taher, Sedighi,
and Forouzan, all of whom are based in Iran, remain at large. The case is
pending before U.S. District Judge Colleen McMahon for the Southern District of
New York.
According to the allegations contained in the superseding
indictment, other court filings, and statements made during court proceedings,
Bazghandi, who resides in Iran, is an IRGC Brigadier General and has previously
served as chief of an IRGC Intelligence Organization (IRGC-IO)
counterintelligence office. In April 2023, the U.S. Secretary of State
designated IRGC-IO as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist under Executive
Order 14078, for hostage-taking and the wrongful detention of U.S. nationals abroad.
On the same date, the Treasury Department sanctioned Bazghandi in connection
with his involvement with the detention of foreign prisoners held in Iran.
Bazghandi was designated by the Treasury Department a second time in June 2023,
this time under Executive Order 13224, for his participation in IRGC-IO’s
lethal targeting operations. Haj Taher, Sedighi, and Forouzan (collectively
with Bazghandi, the Bazghandi Network), each of whom resides in Iran, also have
connections to the Government of Iran.
The Bazghandi Network contracted Amirov, Omarov, Mamedov, and
Khalid Mehdiyev to murder, on U.S. soil, a victim residing in New York City.
The victim is a journalist, author, and human rights activist who has
publicized the Government of Iran’s human rights abuses and suppression of
political expression, including in connection with continuing protests against
the regime across Iran. As recently as 2020 and 2021, Iranian intelligence
officials and assets plotted to kidnap the victim from within the United States
for rendition to Iran in an effort to silence the victim’s criticism of the
regime. That plot was disrupted and exposed by the FBI and led to the filing of
federal kidnapping conspiracy and other charges in the Southern District of New
York against several participants in the plot in United States v.
Farahani, et al.
Since at least July 2022, the Bazghandi Network tasked members
of the organization with assassinating the victim. The organization’s
participation in the murder-for-hire plot was directed by Amirov, who resided
in Iran and who was tasked with targeting the victim by individuals in Iran. On
approximately July 13, 2022, Amirov forwarded targeting information — which
Amirov had received from individuals in Iran — about the victim and the
victim’s residence to Omarov. Omarov, in turn, together with Mamedov, directed
and collaborated with Mehdiyev, who was residing in Yonkers, New York, to carry
out the plot against the victim. Mehdiyev’s participation in the plot was
disrupted when he was arrested near the victim’s home on or about July 28,
2022, while in possession of the assault rifle, along with 66 rounds of
ammunition, approximately $1,100 in cash, and a black ski mask.
In January 2023, Amirov, Omarov, and Mamedov were arrested
overseas. On Jan. 27, 2023, they were charged publicly for their roles in the
plot to assassinate the victim. Nevertheless, in the months that followed,
members of the Bazghandi Network continued to target the victim. For example,
in or about March 2023, Haj Taher searched for information about the victim’s
family members and Sedighi saved an image of the victim’s residence. As
recently as on or about May 1, 2023, Bazghandi conducted an internet search, in
Farsi, for, “a person in the house of [the victim] movie,” and, on the same
date, watched a video with the title, “A video of the arrested gunman in front
of [the victim]’s home in New York received by [the victim’s employer].”
Bazghandi, Haj Taher, Sedighi, and Forouzan, have been charged
with murder-for-hire, which carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison;
conspiracy to commit murder-for-hire, which carries a maximum penalty of 10
years in prison; conspiracy to commit money laundering, which carries a maximum
penalty of 20 years in prison; and conspiring to violate the International
Emergency Economic Powers Act and sanctions against the Government of Iran,
which carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison.
Amirov, Omarov, and Mamedov have also been charged with
murder-for-hire, conspiracy to commit murder-for-hire, and conspiracy to commit
money laundering. In addition, Amirov, Omarov, and Mamedov were charged with
attempted murder in aid of racketeering, which carries a maximum penalty of 10
years in prison and possession and use of a firearm in connection with the
attempted murder, which carries a maximum penalty of life in prison and a
mandatory minimum penalty of five years in prison. If convicted, a federal
district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S.
Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.
The FBI investigated the case. The Justice Department’s Office
of International Affairs assisted with the extradition of Mamedov.
Assistant U.S. Attorneys Michael D. Lockard, Jacob H. Gutwillig,
and Matthew J.C. Hellman for the Southern District of New York, Trial Attorneys
Christopher Rigali and Leslie Esbrook of the National Security Division’s
Counterintelligence and Export Control Section, and Trial Attorney Dmitriy
Slavin of the National Security Division’s Counterterrorism Section are
prosecuting the case.
An indictment is merely an accusation. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.
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