United States: IRCG Senior Official Charged by American Authorities for Plotting to Kill Iranian Journalist Masih Alinejad
October 22, 2024 - United States
Women Press Freedom applauds United States for charging Ruhollah Bazghandi, a senior official in the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), for the assassination plot against Masih Alinejad in 2022. This alarming case exposes the brutal tactics the Iranian regime employs to silence its critics, even on U.S. soil.
“The revelation that the assassination plot against me in July 2022 was orchestrated by the IRGC is a stark reminder of the lengths to which the Islamic regime will go to silence voices of freedom,” Masih says.
Living in exile since 2009, Masih has moved “21 times between safe houses” to evade the regime's threats. She asserts, “My spirit of resistance is alive, and no amount of intimidation or violence can extinguish it.”
This significant legal action represents a critical victory for press freedom and sends a clear message that transnational repression will not go unchallenged. Masih will further discuss this pressing issue at our roundtable in Ottawa on October 23, focusing on the impact of such repression on journalists and activists worldwide.
We commend the U.S. justice system for acknowledging the grave risks faced by women journalists like Masih and reaffirm the urgent need to protect human rights and hold oppressive regimes accountable.
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Mere weeks after sharing her harrowing experiences of being targeted at Women Press Freedom's Transnational Repression Roundtable in Ottawa, Canada, the disturbing details of yet another plot against Iranian-American journalist Masih Alinejad have come to light.
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