By Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Jan 27 vlog
SDNY COURTHOUSE Oct 3 - A man from Azerbaijan has been arrested with an AK-47 style assault rifle surveilling the Brooklyn home of an Iranian journalist, Inner City Press exclusively reported learned on July 29, 2022,
In the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York past 5 pm that day, a detention or release proceeding was held by Magistrate Judge Sarah Cave on defendant Khalid Mehdiyev. He was heavy-set and in a black T-shirt, escorted in by two US Marshals. Inner City Press was the only media there. Complaint on Patreon here
On January 27, 2023, Mehdiyev's paymaster was presented, again before Judge Cave. He was in a black t-shirt, repeating "Da" sullenly, detained on consent with a taxpayer-funded lawyer. He will next appear before Judge Colleen McMahon on January 31 at 4 pm. Inner City Press will stay on the cases, including of Polad Omarov, set to be extradited in from the Czech Republic. Vlog here
On April 26, the US Attorney's Office wrote to Judge McMahon to adjourn the May 2 status conference for four months, says it would produce discovery and defense counsel would seek and obtain security clearances. Omarov has still not been extradited to the US. Inner City Press asked Masih Alinejad about the case(s), here.
On October 3, Judge McMahon presided and ruled: "Minute Entry for proceedings held before Judge Colleen McMahon: Arraignment as to Rafat Amirov (2) Count 1s,2s,3s held on 10/3/2023. Defendant pleads NOT guilty. The matter is adjourned to December 7, 2023, at 2:00 p.m., for a status conference. Speedy trial time is excluded through December 7, 2023, in the interest of justice, to allow for the extradition of codefendants, and for the defendant to review discovery." Watch this site.
Back on July 29, 2020 Assistant US Attorney Matthew Hellman described Mehdiyev in a borrowed car, a gray Subaru Forester SUV with an Illinois license plate, with 66 rounds of ammunition and the gun, outside the house of a person he described as an Iranian dissident and human rights activist who was previously the targets of an indicted plot by Iranian government operatives to kidnap her.
Inner City Press' research upon leaving the Magistrates Court found that Alireza Shavaroghi Farahani, Mahmoud Khazein, Kiya Sadeghi and Omid Noori, all living in Iran — were accused of conspiring to kidnap a Brooklyn journalist, human rights activist who has been critical of the Iranian regime, with a fifth, Niloufar Bahadorifar, accused of providing financial support. The target was identified as Masih Alinejad.
Mehdiyev's assigned Criminal Justice Act lawyer argued that he faces only five years in prison on the gun charge, and for release. But Judge Cave found his a danger, and a flight risk, and ordered him detained.
The preliminary hearing was set in two weeks.
The case is US v. Mehdiyev, 22-mj-6185 (Cave)
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