This ploy was used in 2019 to capture Ruhollah Zam, an outspoken Iranian journalist living in France. Zam was lured to a third country where he was kidnapped and brought back to Iran. In 2020, he was executed by the Iranian government. It is thought that the Farahani group may have been responsible.
In June 2020 the Iranian government changed tactics. They began plotting to abduct her from the US. The indictment claims Iranian agents hired private investigators in the US to keep surveillance on the Alinejad family in Brooklyn. They told the surveillance team she was a missing person from Dubai and had fled the country to avoid paying the debt.
The Iranians had done extensive research and even watched the family on a live feed. They were in the midst of organizing a way out of the US with their victim when the FBI disrupted the plan to kidnap journalist Alinejad.
“Every person in the United States must be free from harassment, threats, and physical harm by foreign powers,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Mark J. Lesko for the Justice Department’s National Security Division.
