Masih Alinejad
Masih Alinejad | |
---|---|
مسیح علینژاد | |
Born | Masoumeh Alinejad-Ghomikolayi September 11, 1976 |
Nationality | Iranian |
Citizenship | United States[1] |
Education | Oxford Brookes University |
Occupation(s) | Journalist and author |
Years active | 2001–present |
Employer | U.S. Agency for Global Media |
Spouses | |
Children | 1 |
Masih Alinejad (
She lives in
Early life and career in Iran
Alinejad was born as Masoumeh Alinejad, but uses the first name "Masih" (Persian for "anointed" or "Messiah").[15][16] Alinejad was politically conscious from a young age, and was arrested in 1994 for producing leaflets critical of the government. Masih Alinejad wrote in her book that she started journalism with the help of Marjan Sheikholeslami.[17] She began her career in journalism in 2001 with the local daily Hambastegi, and then for the Iranian Labour News Agency (ILNA). Other publications such as Shargh, Bahar, Vaghaye Ettefaghiye, Ham-Mihan, and Etemad, have also published her work. During the sixth and seventh parliament, Alinejad was a parliamentary reporter. In 2005, she wrote an article suggesting that government ministers had claimed they received pay cuts; they were actually receiving considerable sums of money as "bonuses" for everything from serving religious duties to ringing in the New Year. The article generated controversy, and led to her dismissal from parliament.[16] In 2008, she wrote an exceptionally critical piece in Etemad, called "Song of the Dolphins", where she compared
Career
Opposition to Iranian government
In 2014, Alinejad launched My Stealthy Freedom (also known as Stealthy Freedoms of Iranian Women), a Facebook page that invites Iranian women to post pictures of themselves without a hijab. The page quickly attracted international attention, and has garnered hundreds of thousands of likes.[21] In 2015, the Geneva Summit for Human Rights and Democracy, awarded her its women's rights prize for "giving a voice to the voiceless and stirring the conscience of humanity to support the struggle of Iranian women for basic human rights, freedom, and equality".[22]
On June 13, 2022, she was awarded the American Jewish Committee's Moral Courage Award for speaking out fearlessly in support of the Iranian people being oppressed by the Iranian government.
Alinejad has said she is not opposed to the hijab per se, but believes it should be a matter of personal choice. In Iran, women who appear in public without a hijab risk being arrested, imprisoned, and fined.[21]
Journalism
Masih Alinejad wrote in her book: "Marjan Sheikholeslami, the head of the political department of Hambastegi newspaper agreed to take me under her wing."[17][23][24] Since 2015, Alinejad has hosted a weekly 15-minute primetime show called Tablet for Voice of America's Persian Language Service. "With original video from inside Iran, Tablet profiles ordinary citizens and connects them with Americans through short interviews on common themes illustrating both similar and different experiences. The program also has a weekly "timeline report", tracing the development of issues such as the international women's rights movement and relations between Washington and Tehran", the press release states.[25][26]
In July 2019, Iranian authorities warned the public that anyone sending videos to Alinejad faced up to 10 years in prison. Musa Ghazanfarabadi, the head of Tehran's Revolutionary Court, told
Anti-compulsory hijab campaign
Alinejad has been critical of the
From 2012 to 2019, Alinejad created and promoted multiple campaigns including #WhiteWednesdays, #MyCameraIsMyWeapon, #MyPenIsMyWeapon, #MenWithHijab to mobilize anti-mandatory hijab movement in Iran.[32]
Some feminists have supported Alinejad's campaign because, in their view, the
After the Christchurch mosque shooting in March 2019 in New Zealand, Alinejad criticized New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern for wearing a hijab ostensibly in sympathy and respect to the Muslim victims. She said she "felt that you are using one of the most visible symbols of oppression for Muslim women in many countries for solidarity, and it also broke my heart".[36][37]
Chess championship boycott
In 2016, Alinejad launched a boycott campaign against the 2016 women's chess world championship, to be held in February 2017 in Tehran, Iran.[38] The campaign was incited by Nazí Paikidze, a Georgian-American chess player. Paikidze, a non-Iranian, refused to attend world championships in Tehran because according to Iran's religious law, female players would be forced to wear a hijab. Alinejad supported Paikidze, and co-wrote an op-ed with Indian-American Asra Nomani in The Washington Post.[39]
Meeting with U.S. Secretary of State
In February 2019, Masih Alinejad met with U.S.
Recognition
Awards
- AIB Media Excellence Award for Radio Farda's production "Victims of 88", Nov 2013[10]
- Inaugural Women’s Rights Award at the Geneva Summit, 2015[42]
- Freethinker Prize by Swiss Freethinkers Association, 2017[43]
- America Abroad Media award, Nov 2019[44]
- Moral Courage Award by American Jewish Committee (AJC), Jun 2022[45]
- Oxi Courage Award for her fight against Iran’s compulsory hijab, Oct 2022[46]
- Scholar-Statesman Award by Washington Institute for Near East Policy for her tireless promotion of women’s rights, freedom, and political change in her native land, Nov 2022[47]
- Global Impact Award, Dec 2022[48]
Other recognitions
- Nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize for her advocacy for women's rights in Iran, 2022[49]
- Named as one of the 12 Time Magazine's Women of the Year, March 2023[50][51]
Harassment
Arrest and harassment of family members
On September 23, 2019, Islamic Republic security forces arrested three of Alinejad's family members as retribution for her women's rights activism, according to Amnesty International. Alinejad's brother, Alireza Alinejad, was arrested in Tehran, while Hadi and Leila Lotfi, brother and sister of her former husband, Max Lotfi, were all arrested in the northern city of Babol by officials from the ministry of intelligence.[52][53] Her parents, siblings, extended family and all relatives and associates who remained in their village, in northern Iran, were repeatedly harassed[citation needed], threatened with loss of employment, and instructed to lure Alinejad to neighboring Turkey for a "family reunion," so that agents could supposedly "just talk" to her. Her brother warned her it was a trap. In 2018, Alinejad's sister and niece were forced to go on a prime-time television programme to say that the family was disgraced by Alinejad's behavior, and that their parents have disowned her. Alinejad responded that her family was forced to say such things by the authorities, a common tactic employed by the
She wrote in a
Iranian government smear campaign
By this point, Iranian authorities had been conducting a concerted smear campaign against Alinejad for a decade. Even going to such extremes as doctoring photos to make it look like she engaged in sexually provocative behavior, and showing them to her elderly, poorly-educated father. She told
Kidnapping plot
In July 2021, the U.S. Department of Justice claimed that four Iranian intelligence officials and a fifth assistant were planning to kidnap a New York-based journalist critical of Iran, as well as four further people in Canada and the UK. The Iranian kidnapping scheme—which appears to be the first publicized case on U.S. soil—dated back to at least June 2020. Robin Wright revealed in the New Yorker: "According to the DOJ announcement, the plotters had identified travel routes from Alinejad's home to a Brooklyn waterfront, researched a service offering military-style speedboats for maritime evacuation out of New York, and studied sea travel from New York to Venezuela, which has close ties with the Islamic Republic. In a detailed e-mail, Kiya Sadeghi, another of the four indicted Iranian intelligence agents, even instructed the private investigators to take pictures of the envelopes in Alinejad's mailbox. The FBI stated that it had foiled Iran's scheme in the United States. "Not on our watch," William Sweeney, the head of New York's FBI office, said."[57][59][14]
Assassination plot
On July 28, 2022, a man named Khalid Mehdiyev approached Alinejad's residence in Brooklyn, looking inside the windows and attempting to open the front door. He was stopped later that day by
In 2023, Niloufar Bahadorifar was convicted for having willfully violated sanctions and knowingly provided financial support to Iranian intelligence assets, who in turn were engaged in a plot to kidnap Masih Alinejad.[65]
Bibliography
Alinejad's memoir, The Wind in My Hair
She has published four books in Persian:
- Tahasson[ISBN missing] – which describes the political turmoil/challenges created when the "Sixth Iranian Parliament" went on strike.
- Taj-e-Khar (The Crown of Thorns)[Christ and the crown of thorns placed on his head by the Romans.
- I am Free[ISBN missing] – which deals with women's issues in Iran, published in Germany because of its being blacklisted by the Islamic Culture and Guidance Ministry, Iran's censorship body.
- Gharar Sabz (Green Rendezvous)[ISBN missing] – which deals with post-2009 presidential election fraud violence. This book was also published in Germany, for the same reasons.
See also
- Guardianship of the Islamic Jurist
- Islamic Revolution
- Islamic Revolutionary Court
- Theocracy
References
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... Ms. Alinejad, an American citizen ...
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- ^ Inskeep, Steve (July 15, 2021). "The Journalist Iran Allegedly Sought To Kidnap Says She Would Have Been Killed". NPR.org. Retrieved December 3, 2021.
- ^ "Iran: Family of women's rights activist arrested in despicable attempt to intimidate her into silence". September 25, 2019.
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- ^ Morris, Cheryl (November 1, 2007). "How Masih Alinejad is paying the price for confronting Iran's leaders". New Internationalist. Retrieved July 26, 2010.
- ^ Evans, Greg (March 2, 2023). "Cate Blanchett, Angela Bassett Among Time's 2023 Women Of The Year". Deadline. Retrieved April 11, 2023.
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- ^ Ghattas, Kim. "Those Who Dare to Bare Their Hair". Foreign Policy. Retrieved March 23, 2019.
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- OCLC 1110155277.
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- ^ "Freethinker prize 2017 awarded to Masih Alinejad and Zehra Doğan". free-thought.ch. Retrieved February 8, 2023.
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- ^ "Iran: Family of women's rights activist arrested in despicable attempt to intimidate her into silence". amnesty. September 25, 2019. Retrieved September 25, 2019.
- ^ Alinejad, Masih (October 6, 2019). "My Brother Ali Is Iran's Latest Hostage". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved October 6, 2019.
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- ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved January 28, 2023.
- ^ Cohen, Luc; Schectman, Joel; Cohen, Luc (January 27, 2023). "U.S. charges three in Iran-backed effort to assassinate journalist". Reuters. Retrieved January 28, 2023.
- ^ California Resident Sentenced To Four Years In Prison For Conspiring To Violate U.S. Sanctions Against Iran
- ^ Zakaria, Rafia (July 3, 2018). "The Woman Whose Hair Frightens Iran". The New York Times (review).
External links
External videos | |
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Activist Masih Alinejad fights against the compulsory hijab in Iran, Matter Of Fact With Stan Grant, ABC News |
- Media related to Masih Alinejad at Wikimedia Commons
- Official Website
- Masih Alinejad at IMDb
- Meet the Iconoclast Inspiring Iranian Women to Remove Their Headscarves in Vogue Magazine
- Review of The Woman Whose Hair Frightens Iran in the New York Times book review