In a dramatic scene at Manhattan federal court on October 29, 2025, Iranian-American activist and journalist Masih Alinejad faced the two men who plotted to kill her in a failed 2022 assassination attempt. Rafat Amirov, 46, and Polad Omarov, 41, both high-ranking members of the Russian mob, were each sentenced to 25 years in prison for their roles in a murder-for-hire scheme orchestrated by the Iranian government. The foiled plot, which nearly cost Alinejad her life, has become a stark symbol of the Iranian regime’s ongoing campaign to silence dissidents abroad and the international networks it employs to do so.
According to the Associated Press, the sentencing marked the end of a harrowing chapter for Alinejad, who has been a prominent voice against Iran’s draconian laws restricting women’s freedoms. “I crossed an ocean to come to America and have a normal life and I don’t have a normal life,” Alinejad said in court, standing just feet from Amirov and Omarov. “I’m a brave woman. I’m a strong woman. They couldn’t break me. But they brought fear to my life. These criminals turned my life upside down.”
The plot against Alinejad unfolded in July 2022, when Khalid Mehdiyev, a lower-level mob associate, was sent to her Brooklyn home with a loaded AK-47 assault rifle. According to testimony and evidence presented at trial, Mehdiyev lurked outside Alinejad’s Flatbush residence, even ordering food to his car as he waited for an opportunity to strike. His suspicious behavior—driving with out-of-state plates and running a stop sign while wearing a ski mask—led to his arrest on July 28, 2022. Police discovered the assault rifle in his vehicle, a bullet already chambered.
Prosecutors revealed that Amirov and Omarov had agreed to accept $500,000 in "blood money" from the Iranian regime to carry out the hit. Both were described as high-ranking members of the Russian mob, specifically the Gulici faction, which has been linked to a litany of crimes including murder, extortion, kidnapping, and arson, both in the United States and abroad. The Manhattan federal jury took less than four hours on March 20, 2025, to convict the pair on charges of murder-for-hire, conspiracy, and money laundering, as reported by Reuters.
During the sentencing, Judge Colleen McMahon did not mince words, calling the assassination attempt a “terrible, terrible crime” and expressing hope that the sentences would send a clear message to foreign gangs and hostile governments: “This kind of conduct will not be tolerated by the United States.” Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael D. Lockard had urged the court to impose even stiffer penalties, arguing that the plot was not only an attack on Alinejad but also on the millions who look to her as a beacon of hope and resistance. “The intended target of the assassination plot was not just Alinejad, but those millions of people who look to Masih Alinejad to be their voice, to promote their cause and to shine a light on the corrupt and deadly tactics of the government of Iran,” Lockard said, according to the Los Angeles Times.
For Alinejad, the ordeal has been deeply personal and traumatic. Since fleeing Iran in 2009 after being banned from covering the country’s disputed presidential election, she has become one of the Iranian regime’s most outspoken critics. Her online campaigns, including “My Stealthy Freedom,” have encouraged Iranian women to defy mandatory headscarf laws by sharing videos of themselves with uncovered hair. These acts of defiance have drawn the ire of Iranian authorities, who first attempted to kidnap Alinejad in 2020 and 2021 before resorting to the 2022 assassination plot.
The activist described in court how the constant threat to her life has forced her to move 21 times since the plot was uncovered. “When I came here, my dream was to jump on a bicycle and just bike freely, and now, I cannot do that because of these criminals,” she lamented. The trauma, she said, has brought guilt and anxiety, especially for the impact it has had on her husband and family. “Now I cannot do that because of these criminals. I have to look over my shoulder.”
Outside the courthouse, Alinejad struck a note of defiance, wearing a red leather jacket to symbolize her refusal to be cowed by those who wanted to see her “covered in blood.” Holding a sunflower, she declared, “Justice is beautiful!” and thanked law enforcement for their vigilance. She was joined by Barry Rosen, a former American hostage in Iran, who called her “one of the most important people in the world” for giving voice to the voiceless.
The case has also cast a harsh spotlight on Iran’s systematic targeting of dissidents beyond its borders. Prosecutors detailed how Iranian intelligence officials, frustrated by failed attempts to intimidate and smear Alinejad, turned to international criminal networks to eliminate her. The plot “came chillingly near success,” prosecutors wrote, only thwarted because Alinejad was out of town and due to the “diligence and tenacity of American law enforcement, which detected and disrupted the plot in time.”
Omarov was extradited to the United States in February 2024, a year after being detained in the Czech Republic. The investigation remains active; in October 2024, prosecutors announced additional charges against a senior Iranian military official and three others, none of whom are in custody. Meanwhile, Mehdiyev, the would-be assassin, has accepted a plea deal and awaits sentencing.
During the trial, Alinejad confronted the men who sought to end her life, describing the chilling moment when she realized someone was watching her from her porch—someone she initially thought was admiring her sunflowers. “I am the survivor of this assassination plot, and even in this room today I felt the humiliation of my life being treated as a business transaction,” she told the court. “These guys, they barely know who I am.”
For their part, Amirov and Omarov offered little in the way of remorse. Amirov urged the judge not to “take into account only my associations” and insisted that the violent reputation of the mob did not define him. Omarov declined to speak; his lawyer argued for a lighter sentence, suggesting he should serve no more than 10 years.
As the dust settles, Alinejad remains undeterred in her mission to inspire and support the women of Iran. “They failed. They wanted to kill me,” she said, her resolve as strong as ever. The sentencing may have closed one chapter, but for Masih Alinejad and those who look to her for courage, the fight for freedom and justice continues.