Rafat Amirov (“Farkhiddin Mirzoev”) and Polad Omarov (“Araz Aliyev”) were sentenced on Wednesday to 25 years each for plotting to kill Iranian-American journalist Masih Alinejad on behalf of the Iranian regime, the U.S. Department of Justice said.

The department said both Russian mobsters were found guilty in March of murder-for-hire and attempted murder in aid of racketeering.

“The defendants and their criminal associates came chillingly close to gunning down an Iranian-American journalist on the streets of New York,” stated John Eisenberg, assistant U.S. attorney general for national security.

“Tehran has long sought to silence Ms. Alinejad, and after multiple failed kidnapping attempts, turned to Omarov and Amirov and their organization to stalk and murder her,” Eisenberg said. “This

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