An Iranian intelligence officer and three alleged members of an Iranian intelligence network have been charged in Manhattan with plotting to kidnap a prominent Iranian opposition activist and writer-in-exile and take her back to Tehran, authorities said Tuesday. Prosecutors alleged that the Iranian intelligence officer had an electronic device containing a graphic of Alinejad alongside those two men, prosecutors said. She also said the FBI at one point asked her to conduct a live video online to see if Iranian intelligence could track her. The rest of the defendants are fugitives believed to be based in Iran, authorities said. The Iranian intelligence officer, who remains a fugitive, was identified as Alireza Shahvaroghi Farahani.

Source: Los Angeles Times July 14, 2021 08:48 UTC