Judge sentences men who tried to kill Iranian activist

Masih Alinejad, an expatriate activist and a critic of Iran, stood in a Manhattan courtroom Wednesday, a few feet from two men who had plotted to kill her.

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“They couldn't break me,’ she said of the men, Rafit Amirov and Polad Omarovy, who prosecutors said were members of the Russian mob working on behalf of an Iranian general.

Moments later, Judge Colleen McMahon of US District Court in Manhattan sentenced the two to 25 years in prison, adding her own blistering critique to the defiance expressed by Ms Alinejad.

“The intended murder was a politically motivated assassination attempt,” Judge McMahon said, adding: “This sort of conduct will not be tolerated by the United States”