New York (AFP) – A man was sentenced Wednesday to 15 years in prison at a US court for his involvement in a plot to assassinate Masih Alinejad, an Iranian-American journalist highly critical of Tehran. Carlisle Rivera, 50, was arrested in November 2024 before carrying out the plan that the US Justice Department said was directed by the government of Iran.
Alinejad is one of the most prominent dissident campaigners against Iranian authorities and for years has pushed for the abolition of the obligatory headscarf in Iran under the banner of “MyStealthyFreedom.” She left Iran in 2009.
After the sentencing, Alinejad, 49, called on the United States to “take action against (those) in power in Iran” and to arrest its supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Her remarks outside a New York courthouse came as US President Donald Trump upped his military threats against Iran on Wednesday.
“Today’s sentence underscores the consequences of conspiring with a regime that relies on violence and intimidation to survive,” John Eisenberg, assistant attorney general for national security, said in a statement.
Another man who pleaded guilty in the plot, Jonathan Loadholt, will be sentenced in April. Alinejad was the target of another assassination attempt thwarted at the last moment in the summer of 2022.
© 2024 AFP
