Iran Revolutionary Guard official accused in plot to kill dissident journalist Masih Alinejad in NYC
NEW YORK (WABC) -- Federal prosecutors on Tuesday announced criminal charges against an Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps official in connection with a failed attempt to assassinate a New York-based Iranian journalist.
Ruhollah Bazghandi is based in Iran and beyond the reach of law enforcement but federal prosecutors said he orchestrated the alleged 2022 plot to kill the journalist in Brooklyn.
Three other men were also charged in connection with the plot to kill Masih Alinejad.
The Iranian opposition activist and journalist has been living in exile in New York City.
Alinejad tweeted after learning about Tuesday's indictment, writing, "First, I was kicked out of my beloved homeland, Iran, then exiled from my second home in Brooklyn. Despite moving 21 times between safe houses, I have a message for @khamenei_ir: Know this - the day of reckoning is coming, and no matter how far you run, justice will find you."
Alinejad fled Iran following the country's disputed 2009 presidential election.
She spoke to ABC News in 2021 after federal prosecutors said that she was a target of a kidnapping plot by Iran's intelligence network.
Bazghandi is described in court papers as a brigadier general who previously served as chief of the Revolutionary Guard's counterintelligence department.
In October, 2017, the Office of Foreign Assets Control, a wing of the U.S. Department of Treasury, designated the Revolutionary Guard as a global terrorist group, saying it has played a key role in supporting Iran's involvement in international terrorism.
In April 2023, the office said Bazghandi was involved in assassination plots against journalists, Israeli citizens and others deemed enemies of Iran, along with his participation in the detention of foreign prisoners held in Iran and involvement in operations in Syria by the Revolutionary Guard's counterintelligence department, the indictment noted.
The plot to kill Alinejad was disrupted by the U.S. and has already led to federal murder-for-hire charges. But the new charges are the first to link the high-ranking Revolutionary Guard official to the plot.
Alinejad lived in Brooklyn at the time of the plot but has since moved to an undisclosed location for her safety
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