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Czechs Extradite Suspect in Iran-Backed Murder Plot to United States 

Farmers drive tractors during a protest against European Union agricultural policies, grievances shared by farmers across Europe, in Prague, Czech Republic, February 19, 2024. (Reuters)
Farmers drive tractors during a protest against European Union agricultural policies, grievances shared by farmers across Europe, in Prague, Czech Republic, February 19, 2024. (Reuters)
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Czechs Extradite Suspect in Iran-Backed Murder Plot to United States 

Farmers drive tractors during a protest against European Union agricultural policies, grievances shared by farmers across Europe, in Prague, Czech Republic, February 19, 2024. (Reuters)
Farmers drive tractors during a protest against European Union agricultural policies, grievances shared by farmers across Europe, in Prague, Czech Republic, February 19, 2024. (Reuters)

The Czech Republic on Wednesday extradited a man facing charges in the United States for plotting the murder of a prominent critic of Iran's government, the Czech Justice Ministry said.

The ministry said Polad Omarov was handed to representatives of US authorities at the Prague Vaclav Havel Airport on Wednesday morning after the suspect had exhausted all options of appeal.

Omarov was arrested in the Czech Republic in January 2023.

The ministry said the justice minister had ruled in July last year in favor of extradition, but the action was delayed by the suspect's complaint with the constitutional court, which was rejected.

Omarov, along with Rafat Amirov and Khalid Mehdiyev, were charged with murder-for-hire and money laundering for their roles in the thwarted Tehran-backed assassination attempt of a critic of Iran's government who is a US citizen and lives in Brooklyn, New York.

The US did not name the alleged victim when it detailed charges in January 2023, but Mehdiyev was arrested in 2022 in New York for having a rifle outside the Brooklyn home of journalist Masih Alinejad. A longtime critic of Iran's head-covering laws has promoted videos of women violating those laws to her millions of social media followers.

US prosecutors in 2021 also charged four Iranians alleged to be intelligence operatives for Tehran with plotting to kidnap a New York-based journalist and activist. While the target of that plot was not named, Reuters confirmed it was Alinejad.

US prosecutors have said Omarov was a resident of the Czech Republic and Slovenia. The Czech Justice Ministry said on Wednesday he was a citizen of Georgia.

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Trump Urges Supporters to Deliver Victory in Return to Scene of 1st Assassination Attempt

BUTLER, PENNSYLVANIA - OCTOBER 05: Republican presidential nominee, former US President Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally at the Butler Farm Show Grounds on October 5, 2024 in Butler, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Jeff Swensen/Getty Images/AFP)
BUTLER, PENNSYLVANIA - OCTOBER 05: Republican presidential nominee, former US President Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally at the Butler Farm Show Grounds on October 5, 2024 in Butler, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Jeff Swensen/Getty Images/AFP)
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Trump Urges Supporters to Deliver Victory in Return to Scene of 1st Assassination Attempt

BUTLER, PENNSYLVANIA - OCTOBER 05: Republican presidential nominee, former US President Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally at the Butler Farm Show Grounds on October 5, 2024 in Butler, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Jeff Swensen/Getty Images/AFP)
BUTLER, PENNSYLVANIA - OCTOBER 05: Republican presidential nominee, former US President Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally at the Butler Farm Show Grounds on October 5, 2024 in Butler, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Jeff Swensen/Getty Images/AFP)

Donald Trump returned on Saturday to the Pennsylvania fairgrounds where he was nearly assassinated in July, urging a large crowd to deliver an Election Day victory that he tied to his survival of the shooting.
The former president and Republican nominee picked up where he left off in July when a gunman’s bullet struck his ear. He began his speech with, “As I was saying,” and gestured toward an immigration chart he was looking at when the gunfire began.
“Twelve weeks ago, we all took a bullet for America,” Trump said. “All we are all asking is that everyone goes out and votes. We got to win. We can’t let this happen to our country.”
The Trump campaign worked to maximize the event’s headline-grabbing potential with just 30 days to go and voting already underway in some states in his race against his Democratic opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris. Musician Lee Greenwood appeared on stage and serenaded him with “God Bless the USA,” frequently played at his rallies, and billionaire Elon Musk spoke for the first time at a Trump rally.
“We fought together. We have endured together. We have pushed onward together,” Trump said. “And right here in Pennsylvania, we have bled together. We’ve bled.”
At the beginning of the rally, Trump asked for a moment of silence to honor firefighter Corey Comperatore, who died as he shielded family members from gunfire in July. Classical singer Christopher Macchio sang “Ave Maria” after a bell rung at the same time that gunfire began on July 13. Several of Comperatore's family members were in attendance, including his widow, Helen, who stood during Trump's remarks next to the former president's daughter-in-law, Lara Trump.
Standing behind protective glass that now encases the stage at his outdoor rallies, Trump called the would-be assassin “a vicious monster” and said he did not succeed “by the hand of providence and the grace of God,” The Associated Press reported. There was a very visible heightened security presence, with armed law enforcers in camouflage uniforms on roofs.
Trump honored Comperatore and recognized the two other July rallygoers injured, David Dutch and James Copenhaver. They and Trump were struck when 20-year-old shooter Thomas Matthew Crooks of Bethel Park, Pennsylvania, opened fire from an unsecured rooftop nearby before he was fatally shot by sharpshooters.
The building from which Crooks fired was completely obscured by tractor-trailers, a large grassy perimeter and a fence.
How Crooks managed to outmaneuver law enforcement that day and scramble on top of a building within easy shooting distance of the ex-president is among many questions that remain unanswered about the worst Secret Service security failure in decades. Another is his motive.
Pennsylvania is critical to both presidential campaigns Trump lost Pennsylvania four years ago after flipping it to the Republican column in 2016. He needs to drive up voter turnout in conservative strongholds like Butler County, an overwhelmingly white, rural-suburban community, if he wants to win Pennsylvania in November after losing it four years ago. Harris, too, has targeted her campaign efforts at Pennsylvania, rallying there repeatedly as part of her aggressive outreach in critical swing states.

One of the most anticipated guests of the evening was Musk, the CEO of SpaceX and Tesla and owner of X, formerly Twitter. Musk climbed onto the stage on Saturday jumping and pumping his fists in the air after Trump introduced him as a “great gentleman” and said he “saved free speech.”

“President Trump must win to preserve the Constitution. He must win to preserve democracy in America,” said Musk, who endorsed Trump after the assassination attempt. “This is a must-win situation.”