New York - (AFP) - A man carrying a Kalashnikov was arrested in New York last week in front of the home of an Iranian-American journalist and feminist who has been critical of Iranian authorities and was the target of a 2018 kidnapping plot.

Khaled Mehdiyev was spotted last Wednesday and Thursday behaving suspiciously around the home of journalist Masih Alinejad in Brooklyn, New York. Last week, the FBI arrested the man and found an AK-47 rifle and about 60 bullets in his car, according to a Federal Police memorandum filed Friday before the Manhattan Federal Court.

Masih Alinejad was not mentioned in the published judicial documents, but on Sunday and Monday she confirmed via Twitter, accompanied by tweets with footage from surveillance cameras, that the man, who was arrested by the New York Police Department, "attempted to enter her home in New York with a loaded firearm to kill her."

"Last year, the FBI prevented the Islamic Republic from kidnapping me. My crime is to give a voice to those who have no voice. The US government should be tough on terrorism," the feminist activist wrote on social media.

In July 2021, the US judiciary charged four “Iranian intelligence agents” with plotting to kidnap Masih Alinejad in 2018, by trying to force Iranian relatives of the journalist to lure her to another country, with the aim of arresting her, transferring her to Iran and imprisoning her.

Last summer, US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken met with an Iranian-American activist who is known for encouraging women in her country not to wear the hijab and for her statements and writings against the Iranian authorities.