Prosecutor says at trial that Iran put $500,000 bounty on head of Iranian-American journalist

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Prosecutor says at trial that Iran put $500,000 bounty on head of Iranian-American journalist

2025-03-20 06:22 Last Updated At：06:31

NEW YORK (AP) — The government of Iran put a $500,000 bounty on the head of an outspoken Iranian-American journalist to fund an assassination plot to silence her, a prosecutor told jurors Wednesday at the closing of a murder-for-hire trial.

The purported hitman was arrested in July 2022 before he could kill journalist Masih Alinejad, leading to a trial of two Russian mobsters who organized the murder plot, Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Lockard told a Manhattan federal jury.

Lockard spoke a day after Alinejad testified that she endured a barrage of threats after launching online campaigns from her Brooklyn home to inspire women in Iran to rebel against government edicts.

Alinejad left Iran for America in 2009 after the country's disputed presidential election, quickly building a social media following of millions of people worldwide.

She said she got deluged by videos sent to her by women in Iran after she challenged them to film themselves with their hair exposed when Iran's morality police were not around.

Her campaign, dubbed “My Stealthy Freedom,” encouraged women to rebel against Iran's edict that their hair must always be covered in public with a hijab to conform to religious requirements.

Lockard said the government of Iran labeled the journalist as an enemy of the state and for years tried to harass, smear and intimidate Alinejad.

“When those efforts failed, the government of Iran put a $500,000 bounty on her head,” he said.

He said two high-level members of the Russian mob — Rafat Amirov and Polad Omarov — were paid by the government of Iran to organize a plot to kill Alinejad in 2022. The evidence, he added, was overwhelming.

The men, both natives of Azerbaijan, did not commit any of the multiple crimes they were charged with, their lawyers told the jury in closing arguments.

Attorney Michael Martin, representing Amirov, said there was no dispute that Iran was targeting Alinejad, but his client was not part of any plot.

He attacked the credibility of Khalid Mehdiyev, who testified last week that he was paid $30,000 to kill Alinejad, but his task was interrupted when police pulled him over for rolling through a stop sign. A loaded AK-47 was in his backseat.

Martin called Mehdiyev a “manipulative, violent, lying person.”

Attorney Elena Fast, representing Omarov, said Mehdiyev was a “clown as a hitman” who never intended to kill Alinejad.

“This was a plan to scam and not to murder,” she said, claiming that anyone communicating about a plot was merely trying to collect money offered for a killing with no intent to do anything in return.

After prosecutors deliver a rebuttal argument on Thursday, instructions on the law will be read to the jury, which will begin to deliberate afterward.

Pope Francis will be released from the hospital on Sunday, doctors say

2025-03-23 01:29 Last Updated At：01:31

ROME (AP) — Pope Francis will be released from the hospital on Sunday, after 38 days battling a life-threatening case of pneumonia in both lungs, his doctors said.

Gemelli medical director Dr. Sergio Alfieri said Saturday that Francis will require at least two months of rest and rehabilitation as he continues recovering back at the Vatican.

Francis was admitted to Gemelli hospital on Feb. 14 after a bout of bronchitis worsened. He later developed a life-threatening case of pneumonia.

Pope Francis ’ doctors provided their first in-person update on the pontiff’s condition in a month, in a sign that he has made good and steady progress in his battle against double pneumonia.

The Saturday evening briefing is the first since Feb. 21, a week after the 88-year-old Francis was brought to Gemelli hospital. He subsequently experienced several respiratory crises that landed him in critical condition, though he has since stabilized.

In another development, the Vatican announced that Francis would appear on Sunday morning to bless faithful from his 10th floor suite at the hospital. While Francis released an audio message on March 6 and the Vatican distributed a photo of him March 16, Sunday’s blessing will be the first live appearance since Francis was admitted on Feb. 14 for what has become the longest hospitalization of his 12-year papacy.

The Argentine pope, who has chronic lung disease, is prone to respiratory problems in winter and had part of one lung removed as a young man, was admitted after a bout of bronchitis worsened.

Doctors first diagnosed a complex bacterial, viral and fungal respiratory tract infection and soon thereafter, pneumonia in both lungs. Blood tests showed signs of anemia, low blood platelets and the onset of kidney failure, all of which later resolved after two blood transfusions.

The most serious setbacks began on Feb. 28, when Francis experienced an acute coughing fit and inhaled vomit, requiring he use a noninvasive mechanical ventilation mask to help him breathe. He suffered two more respiratory crises in the following days, which required doctors manually aspirate the mucus, at which point he began sleeping with the ventilation mask at night to help his lungs clear the accumulation of fluids.

At no point did he lose consciousness, and doctors reported he was alert and cooperative.

Over the past two weeks, he has stabilized and registered slight improvements, the Vatican press office has reported. He no longer needs to wear the ventilation mask at night, and is cutting back his reliance on high flows of supplemental oxygen during the day.

Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.