Earlier this week, Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar amplified a piece discrediting Iranian journalist and activist Masih Alinejad. No big shock that Omar would do something like that, as Alinejad is a critic of the Iranian regime and Omar is an unabashed apologist for them.
— Rep. Ilhan Omar (@Ilhan) January 7, 2020
Today, Alinejad fired back at Omar — and she didn’t hold back:
MPORTANT THREAD ⬇️⬇️⬇️
1-Earlier this week, Rep Ilhan Omar shared a defamatory article about me on social media by a Koch-Brothers funded “think tank” co-founded by a known sympathizer of the Iranian regime.
Here's my response to @IlhanMN pic.twitter.com/t7iiEgJvAx
— Masih Alinejad ?️ (@AlinejadMasih) January 10, 2020
2-Ilhan Omar, when my innocent brother was recently taken hostage by the regime, solely due to my advocacy of civil rights for Iran, I reached out to you, expecting solidarity from you. However, you were silent. You gave no reaction.
— Masih Alinejad ?️ (@AlinejadMasih) January 10, 2020
3- When women like Saba Kordafshari, Yasaman Aryani, Monireh Arabshahi and Mojgan Keshavarz were arrested for protesting against compulsory hijab in Iran and were sentenced to a total of 95 years in prison, you were silent.
— Masih Alinejad ?️ (@AlinejadMasih) January 10, 2020
4-When my 70-year-old mother was interrogated for my activities by the Revolutionary Guards, I asked for your help, but you were silent yet again.
You're silent even now as 176 people have been killed onboard a Ukraine Airlines plane under suspicious circumstances in Iran.
— Masih Alinejad ?️ (@AlinejadMasih) January 10, 2020
5- After months of silence, you instead chose to amplify a smear campaign against me, a fellow woman of color. Your only comments to all these human rights abuses is to repeat Islamic Republic propaganda against me.
— Masih Alinejad ?️ (@AlinejadMasih) January 10, 2020
6- As a journalist, I am an independent contractor for a number of media outlets, including the Persian-language service of Voice of America, which was created to counter the propaganda of authoritarian adversaries like the Soviet Union.
— Masih Alinejad ?️ (@AlinejadMasih) January 10, 2020
7-This was evident to all who know my work, including millions of voiceless Iranians. Is this what you’re bullying me for?
By bullying a freelance journalist like me, you are empowering the Revolutionary Guards to put more pressure on my family.
— Masih Alinejad ?️ (@AlinejadMasih) January 10, 2020
8-Those of us who hail from countries ruled by tyrants are capable of denouncing both the cruel policies of Trump & dictators in our native lands. I've openly condemned Trump’s travel ban—which separated me from my son in the UK—and his threats of attacking cultural sites in Iran
— Masih Alinejad ?️ (@AlinejadMasih) January 10, 2020
9- I’ve also condemned the Islamic Republic's ban on Iranian dissidents that prevented people like me from going home. I have loudly protested a potential war against Iran years before you entered the Congress.
— Masih Alinejad ?️ (@AlinejadMasih) January 10, 2020
10-Yet, when I divulge the repression of the Islamic Republic, attacks against me proliferate by the regime & their supporters in the West. I'd have never imagined that one day a member of Congress, a fellow woman of colour, would join with my oppressors in trying to defame me
— Masih Alinejad ?️ (@AlinejadMasih) January 10, 2020
We’d say Alinejad has a right to be angry.