U.S. charges four with plot to kidnap New York journalist critical of Iran Reuters | Jul 14, 2021 10:58 PM EDT Masih Alinejad, 37, Iranian journalist, poses for a portrait in London (Photo : REUTERS/Toby Melville) U.S. prosecutors have charged four Iranians, alleged to be intelligence operatives for Tehran, with plotting to kidnap a New York journalist and human rights activist who was critical of Iran, according to a Justice Department indictment unsealed on Tuesday. In recent years, Iranian intelligence officers have tricked a number of overseas activists to travel to destinations where they were kidnapped and sent back to Iran, U.S. authorities said.