“The victim publicized the Iranian government’s human rights abuses, the discriminatory treatment of women, the suppression of democratic participation and expression and the use of arbitrary imprisonment, torture and execution ,” Garland said.
Garland did not name the alleged victim, but Mehdiyev was arrested last year in New York for possessing a rifle outside the Brooklyn home of journalist Masih Alinejad, a longtime critic of Iran’s cover-up laws. of the head that promoted videos of women breaking those laws about social societies. media.
Mehdiyev pleaded not guilty to a charge of possessing a firearm with a defaced serial number. He is being held at the Brooklyn Metropolitan Detention Center pending trial.
Iran’s mission to the United Nations did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
American prosecutors in 2021 charged four Iranians who were allegedly intelligence operatives for Tehran who planned to kidnap a journalist and activist based in New York. While the target of the plot was not named, Reuters confirmed that she was Alinejad.
