When Niloufar “Nellie” Bahadorifar moved to Orange County from Canada in 2011, she seemed to be beginning what might develop into a optimistic new chapter in what had, till then, been a troublesome life.
Years earlier than, when she was 19 years outdated, Bahadorifar fled her house nation of Iran. After ending up in Canada, she wed her husband in an organized marriage, solely to later endure bodily abuse at his arms, in keeping with courtroom paperwork.
Regardless of that, Bahadorifar had managed to construct a profession as an elementary faculty instructor and lift her younger son. By 2011, she had divorced her first husband and was headed to California to be along with her new husband.
Simply three years later, nevertheless, Bahadorifar would begin corresponding with an outdated household good friend in Iran. The messages between them would, by 2023, finally land her in jail, the one American citizen charged in a plot orchestrated principally by brokers of the Iranian regime to kidnap a distinguished dissident dwelling in the US.
Bahadorifar, 48, a division retailer worker and Irvine resident, was handed a four-year sentence on Friday, April 7, with an extra three years of parole after she’s launched.
Prosecutors accused her of violating sanctions positioned on Iran when she paid a Brooklyn-based personal investigator to spy on Masih Alinejad, 46, a journalist, ladies’s rights activist and longtime critic of human rights abuses in Iran.
On Friday, at her sentencing listening to in a Manhattan courtroom, Bahadorifar apologized to Alinejad.
“You're a hero to all Iranians,” Bahadorifar stated. “I'm so sorry.”
Bahadorifar has stated she was unwittingly swept up within the plot. Federal prosecutors didn't cost her with crimes associated to the tried kidnapping of Alinejad. However how precisely Bahadorifar grew to become so entwined within the spying ring remains to be unclear.
Prosecutors recognized 4 males concerned within the scheme who they stated have been working for Iranian intelligence businesses. All nonetheless reside in Iran, and haven't been arrested for the plot.
The group sought to kidnap Alinejad and a number of other different victims, with the purpose of brining all of them again to Iran.
Some parts of the plot to kidnap Alinejad have been outlandish: A part of the plan could have included hiring military-style speedboats to ferry the brokers as they fled New York Metropolis, courtroom paperwork confirmed.
One of many males concerned was Mahmoud Khazein, an Iranian businessman contracted to run the spy ring. In 2020, the household good friend involved with Bahadorifar messaged her, asking for $670 to be paid to Khazein. The cost went to the personal investigator, who additionally advised prosecutors he was not conscious he was working to kidnap Alinejad.
In her apology, Bahadorifar stated she was “humiliated to have been concerned in any try and hurt” Alinejad.
Alinejad additionally attended the courtroom listening to. She didn't settle for the apology.
“Even attempting to make use of this to avoid wasting herself? I’m not a hero,” Alinejad stated. “My heroes are these individuals who acquired killed by the Iranian regime, they usually by no means performed victims like she did.”
The Related Press contributed to this story.