A reporter from Iran testified on Tuesday to trial two men accused of hiring a killer to kidnap and kill her in 2022 Iranian regime.
Mashi Alinejad testified for more than two hours at the trials of Rafat Amirov and Polad Omarov in federal court in New York City. These people plead not guilty to multiple charges, including Murder.
U.S. prosecutors say the murder plot was carefully planned from Iran to stop Alinejad from talking about human rights violations in his home country.
“We don’t have free media in Iran,” she said, recounting her years, covering the politics of a young journalist who often clashed with authorities in the country trying to control the news she generated.
Masih Alinejad blew a kiss to supporters outside the federal court after testifying at the Assassin Trial in New York on Tuesday, March 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
Alinejad moved to the United States in 2009 after Iran’s controversial presidential election. In the United States, Alinejad launched an online campaign to encourage Iranian women to place pictures and videos to show their hair, which is not against religious rules that require a headscarf.
Alinejad, who appeared in the stands with a curly black hair, said that in Iran, a pastor once told her: “If you don’t cover your hair, I will punch holes in your face.”
Masih Alinejad greeted friends and supporters outside federal court after two men who killed her in New York testified at trial on Tuesday, March 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
She said Iranian authorities have been trying to derail her information by calling her a prostitute, CIA agents and even the president’s “agent.” Donald Trump.
As the United States’ trial of suspected regime killers continues
Dissident journalists testified that she was so threatened and insulted that she felt “somewhat broken” after discovering the assassination attempt.
Masih Alinejad, 48, was interviewed at the Associated Press in Berlin, Germany on November 9, 2024. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)
Alinejad’s testimony was in the week of former members Russian rioters He was hired to take photos and videos outside his Brooklyn home, testified. When he could, he was stopped by police and stopped the stop sign. He was arrested after a assault rifle filled with AK-47 was found in his back seat.
Amirov and Omarov’s defense attorneys told jurors that the prosecutor’s evidence was only indirect and there was not enough evidence to convict.
The judge told jurors on Monday that they may start deliberations this weekend.
Grace Taggart of Fox News and the Associated Press contributed to the report.
