The White House "categorically" condemned this Wednesday a plot hatched, according to American justice, by Tehran to kidnap a journalist of Iranian origin living in the United States, accusations qualified as "absurd" by the Islamic Republic.

In shock, the target of this alleged plot, Masih Alinejad, 44, author and feminist activist behind the anti-veiling movement in Iran, called on the West to react firmly.

"It's incredible, I still cannot believe that, here in New York, the Islamic Republic could have threatened me, followed me ... Me, an American-Iranian citizen, here on the soil of the United States of America" , she said on CNN.

Four Iranian agents arrested

American justice announced Tuesday the indictment of four "Iranian intelligence agents", accused of having prepared the kidnapping of this voice very critical of Tehran.

Federal police have issued wanted notices against the four men, who are likely to be in Iran.

An Iranian woman living in California, for her part, was arrested and accused of having participated in the financing of the project which, according to the indictment, involved the placing under surveillance of the reporter and her relatives, photographed and filmed. without their knowledge from June 2020.

Iran denies its accusations

The network has, according to American justice, also used private detectives - by hiding their real objectives - to spy on dissidents installed in Canada, Great Britain and the United Arab Emirates.

"A Hollywood scenario", "a naive story": Iran strongly rejected this Wednesday "absurd and baseless" accusations which, according to the spokesman for the Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs Saïd Khatibzadeh, "insult the intelligence of the world ”.

"I am not afraid of dying or of being executed"

Masih Alinejad, who left Iran in 2009, explained on CNN that she was informed eight months ago of Iranian efforts to spy on her and to have left her home, without realizing the extent of the plot.

“The details are shocking, I learned them yesterday,” she said: “They were following me and wanted to put me on a boat to Venezuela!

"

Citing the arrest of other critical or dissident journalists, she explained that she was "heartbroken because it has been going on for 40 years and no Western government has taken firm action."

The journalist confided to be "disappointed" with the attitude of the American government of Joe Biden, too conciliatory for his taste.

"I want the Biden administration to be strong, rather than trying to make deals" with the Iranians.

The Democrat restarted talks with Tehran in April in an attempt to save the 2015 international Iran nuclear deal, from which his predecessor Donald Trump had withdrawn.

"I am not afraid of dying or being executed, what scares me is that the whole world remains silent in the face of such a regime and allows it to carry out such oppression in the United States", continued Masih Alinejad.

Washington responds ... verbally

A few hours after the broadcast of the interview with Masih Alinejad, the White House raised the tone.

"We categorically condemn Iran's alleged dangerous and contemptible attempt to kidnap an American citizen on American soil," spokesperson Jen Psaki said during a press briefing.

"The efforts to silence those who peacefully try to improve the situation inside and outside Iran are appalling and we will continue to denounce them," she added.

However, Washington does not intend to end the reopened negotiations in Geneva, she said.

“We think that it is always in our interest (…) to continue these discussions in order to have more visibility on Iran's progress” in the field of nuclear armament, justified the spokesperson.

In a statement, the press freedom association Pen America also lamented "the international community's repeated failure to respond unequivocally to the increasingly long arm of authoritarian regimes."

"This attempt to silence a critic thousands of miles from Iran is a chilling message to all defenders of free speech," wrote one of its officials, Summer Lopez.

Iran is considered one of the most repressive countries for journalists, and exercises “relentless” control of information according to the NGO Reporters Without Borders, which placed it in 174th place out of 180 in its ranking freedom of the press in 2021.

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