Masih Alinejad founded the My Stealthy Freedom movement, which encourages women to remove their hijabs.
Washington, United States:
Four Iranian nationals were indicted Tuesday on charges of plotting to abduct a journalist in New York and smuggle her out of the country to Iran, the Justice Department said.
US-based journalist and activist Masih Alinejad, who is of Iranian descent and is an outspoken critic of the Tehran government, confirmed on Twitter that she was the target of the alleged plot. I am grateful to the FBI for foiling the Islamic Republic of Iran s Intelligence Ministry s plot to kidnap me, she said, with a video clip of her standing by her a window with a police car in the street outside, lights flashing.
Feds charge 4 in Iran plot to kidnap activist in US, others
DEEPTI HAJELA and LARRY NEUMEISTER, Associated Press
July 14, 2021
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FILE - In this July 13, 2005, file photo, outgoing reformist Iranian President Mohammad Khatami talks on the phone with the mother of female journalist Masih Alinejad, right, after meeting with journalists in Tehran, Iran. Prosecutors in the U.S. alleged Tuesday, July 13, 2021, that Iran planned to kidnap Alinejad, famous for her campaign against the Islamic Republic s mandatory headscarf, or hijab, for women. Iran did not immediately comment on the allegation Wednesday, July 14, 2021.Hassan Sarbakhshian/AP
NEW YORK (AP) An Iranian intelligence officer and three alleged members of an Iranian intelligence network have been charged in Manhattan with plotting to kidnap a prominent Iranian opposition activist and writer in exile and take her back to Tehran, authorities said Tuesday.
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Her name is Masih Alinejad and she fled Iran back in 2009 after stories critical of the regime led to her press credentials being revoked. She now lives in Brooklyn and has continued to write critical articles about Iran. Today unsealed court documents reveal that she was the target of a kidnapping plot by four Iranian agents:
Court documents allege that Alireza Shavaroghi Farahani, 50, Mahmoud Khazein, 42; Kiya Sadeghi, 35; and Omid Noori, 45, are accused of conspiring to kidnap and bring the victim to Iran after the individual had been working to sway public opinion both in the country and globally to change the current regime’s laws and practices.
Feds charge 4 in Iranian plot to kidnap U.S. activist, 4 others MarketWatch 12 hrs ago
ASSOCIATED PRESS
NEW YORK An Iranian intelligence officer and three alleged members of an Iranian intelligence network have been charged in Manhattan with plotting to lure a U.S. resident and human rights activist from New York to Iran, authorities said Tuesday.
An indictment in Manhattan federal court alleges that the plot was part of a wider plan to lure three individuals in Canada and a fifth person in the United Kingdom to Iran. Victims were also targeted in the United Arab Emirates, authorities said. The identities of the alleged victims were not released.
Iranian Intelligence Officer, Three Others Charged in Plot to Kidnap US Journalist in New York
Federal authorities on Tuesday charged an Iranian intelligence officer and three alleged members of an Iranian intelligence network with plotting to kidnap an American journalist from New York.
According to an indictment filed in Manhattan federal court, the kidnapping ploy was part of a broader effort to lure three people from Canada and a person from the United Kingdom to Iran.
The New York journalist is not identified in the indictment but is described as a Brooklyn resident, journalist, and human rights activist, who drew attention to Iran’s human rights abuses.