Iranian dissident Masih Alinejad set to testify at trial of men accused of plotting to kill her

NEW YORK — Masih Alinejad, the charismatic Iranian dissident and journalist who prosecutors say was targeted by her former homeland’s government for assassination, is set to testify Tuesday at the trial of two men accused in the plot. In an opening statement last week, a prosecutor said she will testify about why she stands up to the Iranian regime and why she “refuses to back down.” Her testimony is being presented at the trial of Rafat Amirov and Polad Omarov, natives of Azerbaijan, which shares a border and cultural ties with Iran. He testified that he reached out to her on social media, complimenting her as “the best journalist.” When asked why he reached out, he answered: “I was trying to have a conversation with her so I can get into her life.. Because I was trying to get the easy way to kill her.” As he testified last week, Alinejad posted on social media that she was “overwhelmed with mixed emotions.” “You might find this hard to believe — but for simply posting videos of myself showing my hair and encouraging women in Iran to do the same, the regime sent a man with an AK-47 to my house in Brooklyn to kill me,” she said. He said Alinejad became a target of Iran after encouraging women in Iran to share messages and videos of women protesting the regime by refusing to wear head coverings, or hijabs, in public in Iran, subjecting them to arrest or beatings by the country’s morality police.