Tuesday, November 12, 2024

Masih Alineja profile: The Iranian dissident targeted by hitmen who also went after Trump

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Ms Alinejad, meanwhile, had a distrust of authority at a young age, reportedly being expelled from secondary school for challenging its religious teachings before she headed to Tehran to become a journalist.

She was catapulted to fame as a reporter in the Iranian parliament, questioning powerful men in a country where women do not have the vote and have been beaten to death for leaving home without a hijab.

She once approached a politician for an interview, only for him to wave a fist in her face and threaten to beat her when he spotted a few hairs poking out of her head covering.

Ms Alinejad says she shouted back: “All this fuss about two strands of hair. You should be ashamed of yourself.”

In an interview with the Iranian president, Mohammad Khatami, she asked why other countries should “respect our Islamic values” when western women were forced to wear a hijab in Iran. Khatami, by her account, was left “speechless”.

Eventually, her press pass was revoked while she was investigating MPs’ earnings and she fled to the US.

The 48-year-old continued writing stories documenting the plight of women in Iran and in 2014 set up My Stealthy Freedom – a civil disobedience campaign that encourages women to take their picture without wearing a hijab.

She was once called “The woman whose hair frightens Iran” by The New York Times. Iran’s response has been to put her on a kill list.

Ms Alinejad has now urged Mr Trump to be strong in his response to the regime – something that will likely chime with the Republican’s instincts, given that he has appointed Iran hawks to his transition team.

“I call on the US government and the future President of the United States to be tough on terror. The Islamic Republic understands only one language: the language of pressure,” she wrote on social media.

“I came to America to practise my First Amendment right to freedom of speech – I don’t want to die. I want to fight against tyranny, and I deserve to be safe.”

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