‘This is my job’: US writer decries alleged Iranian kidnap plot

Tehran has rejected federal investigators’ claim that Iranian agents planned to abduct journalist Masih Alinejad.

An Iranian-American journalist and human rights activist based in New York has said she will not be bowed by an alleged plot by Iranian intelligence operatives to kidnap her and bring her back to Iran. Federal investigators detailed the plan to abduct Masih Alinejad, a journalist who has contributed to the United States government-funded Voice of America Persian language service and reports on human rights issues in Iran, in an indictment unsealed late Tuesday against four Iranian nationals who US authorities described as intelligence operatives for Tehran. The agents targeted Alinejad “for mobilising public opinion in Iran and around the world to bring about changes to the regime’s laws and practices”, the indictment said.