US court hands 15-year sentence in murder-for-hire plot targeting Iranian dissident

By Fatma Zehra Solmaz

ISTANBUL (AA) - Carlisle Rivera, who prosecutors say was recruited by Iranian operative Farhad Shakeri in a murder-for-hire plot targeting Iranian dissident Masih Alinejad, was sentenced to 15 years in prison on Wednesday.

Alinejad has survived three alleged assassination or abduction plots linked to Iran’s regime and confronted Rivera during his sentencing hearing at a federal court in Manhattan, CBS News reported.

US Judge Lewis J. Liman said Rivera’s written exchanges while plotting the 2024 Brooklyn assassination of journalist and human rights advocate Masih Alinejad were “chilling,” adding that his actions caused “great harm” to Alinejad and her husband.

Prosecutors said Shakeri was “tasked by the regime to direct a network of criminal associates to further Iran’s assassination plots against its targets,” and alleged that he instructed two men in New York - Rivera and Jonathan Loadholt - to kill Alinejad in exchange for $100,000.

The assassination attempt was planned for February 2024 during a speaking engagement at Fairfield University in Connecticut. After months of surveillance, authorities uncovered the plot before it could be carried out, according to CBS News. Rivera and Loadholt were arrested in November 2024 and later pleaded guilty, avoiding a trial.

The case marked the second assassination plot against Alinejad within a year. In October, two men - described by prosecutors as members of a Russian criminal network acting on behalf of Iran - were each sentenced to 25 years in prison for attempting to assassinate her outside her home in Brooklyn.

Alinejad bowed her head as prosecutors detailed voice messages exchanged between Rivera and Shakeri, in which they discussed plans to kill her, including a possible home invasion or a drive-by shooting. Prosecutors said the two met in New York’s prison system, where Shakeri was serving time for manslaughter and Rivera had spent 18 years behind bars following a murder conviction at age 18.