For the third time, Iranian human rights activist and journalist Masih Alinejad faced her would-be killer.
Alinejad and her husband were in court as federal judge Lewis Liman sentenced Carlise Rivera to 15 years in prison for conspiracy to commit murder for hire and conspiracy to commit stalking with intent to kill, harass or intimidate.
Rivera was arrested in Nov. 2024. He pleaded guilty to the two counts almost a year later.
According to the indictment, 51-year-old Rivera, of Brooklyn, and another defendant, Jonathan Loadholt, of Staten Island, were hired by an operative working for the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) to kill Masih Alinejad. They were to be paid $100,000.
Before the sentencing, both Alinejad and her husband, Kambiz Foroohar, spoke about this being their third time facing would be killers in court. The couple described how they have been deprived of a normal life in the U.S., missing out on so much of their children’s lives because they were forced into hiding and had to move from location to location. They said looking over their shoulders is a basic instinct for them.
“I’m just a woman,” Alinejad said. “My weapon is my voice. My weapon is my social media.”
When it was her turn, Alinejad approached the microphone and spoke directly to Rivera.
“I never thought that in U.S., I had to look over my shoulder. I have to because of people like you,” she said.
When the judge instructed her to address him, not the defendant, Alinejad responded: “I have to face him because I live with fear.”
She went on to describe the multiple attempts on her life as threats against all Americans. Alinejad said she wanted the maximum sentence for Rivera to send a message to anyone “targeting U.S. citizens on U.S. soil” and to “protect unarmed people like me now facing massacre in my country.”
Rivera responded, telling the court, “I apologize to the court and those who believed in me, and to the lady and man who just spoke, I can’t imagine how my actions affected their life. I am deeply sorry.”
When it came to sentencing, Judge Liman remarked how the convicted murder was in his late 40’s when he agreed to this murder for hire plot.
“You engaged in a conspiracy to take the life of a victim you did not know. You did it for the money,” he said, going on to say how the “conversations on how best to commit the murder are chilling.”
Liman said there was no evidence Rivera was going to withdraw from the conspiracy.
“You had intent and means, and if you would have found her, there’s no doubt you would have killed her,” the judge said.
Outside the Manhattan federal courthouse, Alinejad said the United States must be careful to not let indiscriminate killings happening in Iran spread to the U.S. As she spoke she held up a computer tablet and showed reporters video clips of body bags of some of the thousands of Iranians killed during recent protests.
Alinejad said she hoped President Donald Trump would go after Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei like he did Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, who was seized in a January U.S. military raid and brought to face drug trafficking charges in New York. He has pleaded not guilty.
“I am calling on President Trump. Take action. Removing terrorists is not tragedy. It’s a sign of justice,” Alinejad said. She added, however, that she does not want Iran bombed — just the removal of its leaders.
She noted that U.S. authorities have said Iran’s Revolutionary Guard was responsible for not only multiple plots against her life but also a plot against Trump.
Earlier in the month, the other defendant in the case, Loadholt, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit stalking and one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering. His sentencing is scheduled for April.
