A federal judge has handed down a 15-year prison term to a Brooklyn man who admitted involvement in what prosecutors described as an Iran-backed plot to murder Masih Alinejad, a prominent Iranian dissident living in the United States, the Justice Department said.
Authorities identified the defendant as Carlisle Rivera, also known by the nickname "Pop." Rivera pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit murder-for-hire and one count of conspiracy to commit stalking. U.S. District Judge Lewis Liman of the Southern District of New York imposed the sentence on Wednesday, according to a Justice Department statement.
Prosecutors say the alleged plot targeted Masih Alinejad, who fled Iran in 2009 and is an outspoken critic of Iran's head-covering laws. Alinejad, a journalist, has used social media to publicize videos of women violating the head-covering rules to her millions of followers. At the time authorities say the plot was hatched, she was living in Brooklyn.
The Department of Justice framed the prosecution as part of a broader crackdown on what it calls transnational repression - the practice of authoritarian governments targeting political opponents beyond their borders. In the statement, prosecutors asserted that Iran's elite Revolutionary Guard Corps and its intelligence officials have made repeated attempts to target Alinejad.
Iran has denied the allegations, dismissing claims that its intelligence officers sought to kidnap or kill Alinejad as baseless. The Justice Department noted that other individuals have also been convicted and sentenced in the United States in connection with the alleged plot.
The court proceedings resulted in guilty pleas on specific conspiracy counts rather than convictions on other potential charges. The Justice Department's public announcement emphasized the role of federal prosecutors in pursuing cases that authorities say demonstrate a pattern of foreign state actors attempting to harm dissidents on U.S. soil.
Details released by prosecutors tied the sentencing to that broader enforcement priority, while the Iranian government maintained its denial of involvement. The statement made clear that multiple people have faced legal consequences in U.S. courts related to the same alleged plot.
Note: Where reporting is limited in the public statement, this article reflects only the facts presented by the Justice Department and statements attributed to prosecutors and the Iranian government.