As relationships remain frosty between Tehran and Washington, the charges against the four Iranians are likely to complicate the plot further. On July 13, the indictment against the four -- Alireza Shavaroghi Farahani, Mahmoud Khazein, Kiya Sadeghi, and Omid Noori -- in a Manhattan federal court was unsealed. Why target Alinejad? Here's what we know about her and why Iran wanted her back in the country.
Masih Alinejad speaks during the 10th Anniversary Women In The World Summit at the Lincoln Center on April 12, 2019, in New York City. (Mike Coppola/Getty Images)
Who is Masih Alinejad?
A journalist, author and activist, Alinejad was born in Iran, before being forced to move to the US. Her political activism goes back decades. She was first arrested in 1994 for producing anti-government leaflets. Since then, she has routinely been in and out of court. In 2001, she began her career as a journalist and quickly became a well-known face in the Iranian media as a parliamentary reporter. She has a degree in Communication Studies from Oxford Brookes University, from where she graduated in 2011.