Georgian Citizen Polad Omarov Convicted in U.S. Over Alleged Iran-Linked Assassination Plot

A U.S. federal jury has convicted Georgian citizen Polad Omarov, 40, for his role in an Iranian government-backed plot to assassinate Iranian-American journalist and activist Masih Alinejad in New York. Omarov was found guilty alongside Iranian national Rafat Amirov, 46, on multiple charges, including murder-for-hire, conspiracy to commit murder-for-hire, money laundering, attempted murder in aid of racketeering, and possession and use of a firearm in connection with the attempted murder. The assassination plot was orchestrated in exchange for $500,000.

“The defendants participated in a brazen plot to kill an Iranian American dissident in New York who criticized the regime in Iran,” said Acting Assistant Director Roman Rozhavsky of the FBI’s Counterintelligence Division, according to the U.S. Department of Justice statement.

Court documents revealed that Omarov [a.k.a Araz Aliyev, Polad Qaqa and Haci Qaqa] along with Amirov were high-ranking members of an Eastern European organized crime group, who were instructed by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) to “locate, surveil and murder,” critical journalist and human rights activist Alinejad.

As recently as 2020 and 2021, Iranian intelligence officials and assets plotted to kidnap Alinejad from within the U.S. for rendition to Iran in an effort to silence her criticism of the Iranian regime, the U.S. DOJ said.

After these “brazen efforts” to kidnap Alinejad from the U.S. failed, the IRGC turned to Amirov and Omarov to locate, surveil, and murder her, the statement further reads.

They coordinated with Iranian officials and other criminals to track Alinejad and arranged payments to an accomplice in New York, Khalid Mehdiyev, who was tasked with carrying out the assassination. Mehdiyev conducted surveillance on Alinejad’s residence in July 2022.

In late July, days later, Mehdiyev’s car was stopped by the U.S. police near Alinejad’s home with an AK-47-style rifle, 66 rounds of ammunition, and cash.

“After Mehdiyev was arrested and placed into custody, Omarov contacted Mehdiyev’s mother and threatened to kill her and her other son if she did not locate Mehdiyev,” the statement read.

Amirov and Omarov are scheduled to be sentenced on September 17.

Masih Alinejad, 48, left Iran in 2009 and resides in New York, U.S. In 2022, she was involved in two campaigns: boycotting Iranian sporting events, and a day of action, which called on women in Iran to remove their hijab. She said she was “relieved” after men who plotted her assassination were found guilty. “But make no mistake, the real masterminds of this crime are still in power in Iran. I am waiting for the day when Ali Khamenei and his terrorist Revolutionary Guards face justice, I want them to be punished,” Alinejad said outside court, according to CBS News.

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