U.S. charges Iranian nationals with plot to kidnap journalist
WASHINGTON, July 13 (Reuters) - Four Iranian nationals were charged in an indictment unsealed in federal court in New York on Tuesday with conspiring to kidnap a U.S.-based journalist, the U.S. Justice Department said in a statement.
The suspects are Iranian intelligence agents or assets who allegedly conspired to kidnap an unnamed Brooklyn journalist and human rights activist who was a critic of the Iranian government, the statement said.
"As alleged, four of the defendants monitored and planned to kidnap a U.S. citizen of Iranian origin who has been critical of the regime's autocracy, and to forcibly take their intended victim to Iran, where the victim´s fate would have been uncertain at best," said U.S. Attorney Audrey Strauss for the Southern District of New York.
(Reporting by Eric Beech; Editing by Doina Chiacu and Peter Cooney)
