Two Canadians charged in U.S. plot to kill Iranian defector

The U.S. Department of Justice has charged two Canadians and an Iranian in a murder-for-hire plot concentrating on two folks in Maryland. 

An indictment unsealed at this time says Naji Sharifi Zindashti, Damion Patrick John Ryan and Adam Richard Pearson conspired to kill the 2 unnamed folks, one among whom was an Iranian defector.

Federal prosecutors say Zindashti, who lives in Iran, was a part of a felony community directed by Tehran that targets Iranian dissidents and activists.

The allegations, which haven’t been confirmed in court docket, say the plot was developed between December 2020 and March 2021 on an encrypted messaging service referred to as SkyECC.

The indictment says Zindashti agreed to pay US$350,000 for the killings and Ryan employed Pearson, who was residing illegally within the U.S. underneath an assumed identify. 

The Justice Department says Pearson and Ryan, who’s a full-patch member of the Hells Angels, are each in Canadian jails for unrelated offences.