NEW YORK — An Iranian intelligence officer and three alleged members of an Iranian intelligence network have been charged in Manhattan with plotting to lure a U.S. journalist and human rights activist from New York to Iran, authorities said Tuesday.

An indictment in Manhattan federal court alleges that the plot was part of a wider plan to lure three individuals in Canada and a fifth person in the United Kingdom to Iran. The identities of the alleged victims were not released.

U.S. Journalists Targeted for Being Critical of Iran

According to the indictment, all of the targeted victims had been critical of Iran.

Although not charged in the kidnapping plot, Niloufar Bahadorifar, also known as Nellie, was arrested July 1 in California on charges that she has provided U.S. financial and other services to Iranian residents and entities and some financial services supported the plot and violated sanctions against Iran, according to a release. Bahadorifar’s lawyer, Assistant Federal Defender Martin Cohen, declined to comment.

Bahadorifar has pleaded not guilty to charges lodged at the time of her arrest and been released on bail, authorities said. She still faces arraignment on charges in a superseding indictment unveiled Tuesday.

The rest of the defendants are fugitives believed to be based in Iran, authorities said.

First Amendment Rights

U.S. Attorney Audrey Strauss said the four defendants charged in the kidnapping plot “monitored and planned to kidnap a U.S. citizen of Iranian origin who has been critical of the regime’s autocracy, and to forcibly take their intended victim to Iran, where the victim’s fate would have been uncertain at best.”

“Among this country’s most cherished freedoms is the right to speak one’s mind without fear of government reprisal. A U.S. citizen living in the United States must be able to advocate for human rights without being targeted by foreign intelligence operatives,” she added.

“Every person in the United States must be free from harassment, threats and physical harm by foreign powers,” Acting U.S. Assistant Attorney General Mark J. Lesko said. “Through this indictment, we bring to light one such pernicious plot to harm an American citizen who was exercising their First Amendment rights.”

Iranian Intelligence Officer Identified

William F. Sweeney Jr., the head of New York’s FBI office, noted that the indictment sounded a bit like “some far-fetched movie plot.”

“We allege a group, backed by the Iranian government, conspired to kidnap a U.S. based journalist here on our soil and forcibly return her to Iran. Not on our watch,” he said.

The Iranian intelligence officer, who remains a fugitive, was identified as Alireza Shavaroghi Farahani.

Farahani and three other defendants sought since at least June 2020 wanted to kidnap the U.S. citizen of Iranian origin who lives in Brooklyn, the indictment said.

The indictment alleged that the government of Iran tried to lure the journalist to a third country so a capture would be possible, even offering money to the journalist’s relatives to try to make it possible. The relatives, the indictment said, refused the offer.