A lady has entered a not guilty plea to the accusations that she stabbed a man she met online in retribution for a US drone attack that killed a senior Iranian commander in 2020.
Nika Nikoubin, 22, admitted to stabbing a man she met online as they were having sex in a Las Vegas hotel on March 5.
Police body camera video subsequently showed that she informed authorities at the site that she believed someone should die on American soil in vengeance for the drone attack on the Iranian commander Qasem Soleimani in 2020.
Following the incident, a Clark County grand jury indicted the UCLA student on two counts of violence and one count of attempted murder with the use of a dangerous weapon based on specified, real, or perceived qualities of a person.
Nikoubin, a budding music sensation, pleaded not guilty in court on Wednesday despite evidence of her psychosis being shown in court papers she submitted on her own behalf.
The current trial date is July 31.
Soon after the March 5 stabbing, Henderson police detained Nikoubin. According to the arrest warrant, she had contacted the male victim on the dating website Plenty of Fish and had arranged to meet him at a hotel where they had reserved a room.
Authorities said Iranian-born Nikoubin blindfolded the victim while they were having sex, turned off the lights, and then repeatedly stabbed the victim in the neck.
Police body camera video acquired by 8 News Now shows her confessing to the conduct after being discovered by officers nude in a laundry room on the 14th floor.
She told the police without feeling guilty, “We were drinking a little bit and then — I suppose we began to get into it and then I stabbed him.”
When a police officer questioned her about if she had any intentions of “hurting” the guy when she agreed to meet with him, Nikoubin said, “Yes.”
Then, when questioned whether she had intended to “murder him or simply to damage him,” the then-21-year-old replied, “Hurt him.”
Nikoubin then went on to say that the reason she attacked the victim with a pink knife was because she wanted to exact retribution for the US drone strike that murdered Iranian military chief Soleimani in 2020.
When police questioned her about why she singled out the guy, she said, “I think out of hatred and retribution.” I’m referring to Soleimani’s murder by the Americans. A lot of blood was lost. “Therefore, I believe it is right that American blood be shed.”
Nikoubin, who had lived in the US for nine years, said, “Americans are cool,” when the attending officer gently inquired if she disliked Americans.
Simply put, I didn’t believe it was just. Because he too passed away, I just thought that someone else should perish on American territory.
According to court records, the stabbing victim had at least two puncture wounds to his neck.
He was sent to the hospital right away, but he lived.
A judge finally decided that Nikoubin was competent to stand trial despite having been diagnosed with paranoid personality disorder, severe depressive disorder, and generalized anxiety disorder, according to court records.
Her victim testified before the grand jury, saying: “She turned out the light, and after that I felt a pressure on my neck that was sharp, so I freaked out and said, “What the f*** are you doing?”
“I yelled.” And while I was still screaming, I pushed her off of me. After saying “Sorry,” she quickly exited the room.
Nikoubin was granted permission to return to Texas under house arrest after posting a $60,000 bond.
Nikoubin underwent mental health therapy, according to a spokeswoman, and continued to work while awaiting trial.
He denied that Nikoubin’s acts had any political undertones.
Considering that Soleimani was the country’s supreme leader’s right-hand man, an air attack directed by the then-President Donald Trump resulted in his death.
He was the commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ Quds force in Iran, and it is said that he is to blame for Tehran’s support of Shia proxies that create trouble across the Middle East.
Soleimani was sometimes referred to be the second-most powerful person in the nation after the supreme leader.
In order to defend “American diplomats and military people” across the globe, Trump declared him the “number-one terrorist anywhere in the world” and ordered his execution.
However, a United Nations expert said last year that the strike was illegal since there was no immediate danger to life.
In her report, Agnes Callamard, a special rapporteur on extrajudicial murders, came to the conclusion that the United States had not presented any evidence to support prompt action.
She said that Major General Soleimani was in charge of Iran’s military policy and operations in Syria and Iraq.
But without a genuine, immediate danger to life, the US’s course of action was illegal.
According to international human rights law, the US is accountable for the strike since it constituted a “arbitrary killing,” she said.
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