USA v. Mehdiyev, Khalid
Brooklyn, NY

Iran

In January 2023, a federal court in New York unsealed an indictment charging three individuals for their roles in a conspiracy to assassinate a United States citizen. In July 2022, one of the defendants, Khalid Mehdiyev, was found with an assault rifle, two ammunition magazines, and approximately 66 rounds of ammunition not far from the victim's [Masih Alinejad's] home in Brooklyn, New York. He was arrested by NYPD officers and charged with a federal firearms offense. Mehdiyev did not act alone. The DOJ alleges that Mehdiyev and his co-conspirators, Polad Omarov and Rafat Amirov, are members of an Eastern European criminal organization with ties to Iran. Amirov directed defendant Omarov, another leader of the organization, who in turn directed defendant Mehdiyev, a member of the organization, to carry out the assassination plot. Omarov resided in Eastern Europe. Mehdiyev was living in the United States.