The Department of Justice charged an Iranian man and two others in a murder-for-hire plot in connection with their involvement in a plot to murder a U.S. citizen of Iranian origin.
According to a press release, the Southern District of New York charged Farhad Shakeri of Iran; Carlisle Rivera of Brooklyn, New York; and Jonathan Loadholt, of Staten Island, New York, in connection to their efforts to kill then-candidate Donald Trump and an Iranian-American journalist who was supposed to visit Fairfield University in February 2024.
“We have also charged and arrested two individuals who we allege were recruited as part of that network to silence and kill, on U.S. soil, an American journalist who has been a prominent critic of the regime,” said Merrick Garldan, the U.S. Attorney General.
Prosecutors alleged Rivera and Loadholt traveled to campus in February 2024 “during their efforts to locate and kill Victim-1.”
The indictment against Rivera also shows that during his Feb. 15 visit to the North Benson campus, he visited and took pictures inside the Barone Campus Center, where the dining hall and multiple university offices are located.
The complaint explains that Victim-1, the Iranian-American journalist, was scheduled to appear and take photographs on campus.
Victim-1 has been identified as Masih Alinejad, an Iranian-American journalist who was scheduled to speak at the Quick Center for the Arts on Feb. 15, 2024.
Alinejad was invited to an Open VISIONS Forum titled “Going Viral With Juju Chang and Masih Alinejad,” where she was scheduled to discuss her “My Stealthy Freedom” campaign, which became one of the biggest civil disobedience movements in the Islamic Republic’s history.
In addition to speaking at the ticketed forum, Alinejad was promoted to participate in a meet and greet and a VIP reception with students hours before the 7:30 p.m. event.
However, that day at 12:27 p.m., the Fairfield University Student Association emailed students to announce the event’s postponement, which was never held.
“The Annual Student Forum, presented in collaboration with FUSA and the College of Arts & Sciences Common Ground Lecture Series has been POSTPONED due to unforeseen circumstances and will be RESCHEDULED for a date in the near future,” the email, sent at 12:27 p.m. reads.
The university never announced to students the reason for the event’s cancellation nor did it announce that students were exposed to a possible assassination attempt on campus.
In a statement, Jennifer Anderson, Fairfield University’s vice president of marketing and communications, said the “University does not comment on federal investigations.”
“Fairfield University respects the varying views and opinions of all invited campus guests and speakers. As announced at the time of the event, the University rescheduled the Open Visions Forum due to unforeseen circumstances,” she added.
However, while the on-campus threat went unreported, students reported an increased police presence around the Quick Center and the Dolan School of Business on the day of the attacker’s visit.
A Fizz post published on Feb. 15 notes the “many DPS and Fairfield Police” at the Dolan school. One user replied to another post saying they saw police presence around the university’s entrance and the Fairfield Prep parking lot, adding, “I saw them there, was 3 in like a 100 foot.”
Internal communications between The Rearview’s staff members from Feb. 15 also showed an increased police presence on the night Alinejad was supposed to speak on campus.
“My roommate just got back from class in Dolan… she said there was an undercover cop car parked in DSB. Then, there were three DPS officers circling Dolan. When she left DSB, there were about four DPS cars and two undercover cars in the same area talking,” one of the text messages sent on Feb. 15 at 6:27 p.m. reads.
The Rearview also received information from students who said K-9 dogs were in the Quick Center area. While the reports were credible, The Rearview was not able to independently confirm the information and report on it.
In a post on X, Alinejad said she was “shocked” to learn about the arrests made in connection to her assassination attempt and called on the U.S. government to be “tough on terror.”
“I am shocked. I just learned from the @FBI that two men were arrested yesterday in a new plot to kill me at Fairfield University, where I was scheduled to give a talk,” the journalist said in the post.
Julian Nazario 