ToplineA group of Iranian intelligence officials were charged Tuesday with surveilling a New York-based journalist and scheming to kidnap her and transport her to Iran, federal prosecutors revealed, in the latest apparent threat against a critic of Iran’s government. gettyKey FactsFour Iran-based intelligence officials were charged with conspiracy to kidnap and several other crimes, after they spent more than a year plotting to apprehend an unnamed U.S. citizen, author and Iranian regime critic, according to an indictment unsealed Tuesday. The same group of Iranian intelligence agents also planned to abduct at least four other people based in Canada and the United Kingdom, prosecutors say. TangentA California-based woman was also charged Tuesday with offering financial support to the kidnapping plot, though she wasn’t charged with conspiracy to kidnap. Masih Alinejad, a New York-based Iranian author who hosts a show for Voice of America, wrote a Washington Post op-ed last year documenting how Iranian officials publicly called for her to be kidnapped.

Source: Forbes July 13, 2021 23:46 UTC