Oct. 30 (UPI) -- Accepting a $500,000 contract to kill Iranian-American journalist Masih Alinejad earned Russians Rafat Amirov and Polad Omarov each 25 years in prison on Thursday.
U.S. District Court of the Southern District of New York Judge Colleen McMahon sentenced Omarov and Amirov after they were found guilty in March, the Justice Department announced in a news release.
"The defendants and their criminal associates came chillingly close to gunning down an Iranian-American journalist on the streets of New York," Assistant Attorney General for National Security John Eisenberg said.
"Tehran has long sought to silence Ms. Alinejad," Eisenberg said, "and after multiple failed kidnapping attempts, turned to Omarov and Amirov and their organization to stalk and murder her."
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