By Jack Queen

(Reuters) -Two men convicted of murder-for-hire charges were each sentenced in New York on Wednesday to 25 years in prison over what prosecutors called a failed Tehran-backed plot to kill an Iranian dissident living in the U.S.

Rafat Amirov, 46, and Polad Omarov, 41, appeared in prison garb before U.S. District Judge Colleen McMahon in Manhattan.

A jury found them guilty in March of five charges – including attempted murder, money laundering and conspiracy – for their roles in a 2022 plot to assassinate Masih Alinejad, a U.S.-Iranian and an outspoken critic of Tehran and its treatment of women.

“This was a terrible, terrible crime that has had terrible, terrible repercussions on some very fine people,” McMahon said.

Alinejad addressed the court with a crowd of supporters

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