Iranian American human rights activist expresses defiance over Iranian plots to kill her and Trump
BERLIN — In the middle of a Berlin hotel cafe, Masih Alinejad raises her voice and starts singing at the top of her lungs in Farsi, as waiters turn to watch along with the three German government bodyguards assigned to protect her.
“I blossom through my wounds and my scars,” she translates the lyrics as. “Because I am a woman. I am a woman. I am a woman.”
Alinejad was expressing her defiance and asserting her right to express herself following the news of Iranian murder-for-hire plots to kill her and Donald Trump that were disclosed by the U.S. Justice Department. She said that some Iranian women had been jailed for singing.
The Iranian American human rights activist, who was in Berlin on Saturday to celebrate the 35th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall together with other human rights activists from around the globe, told The Associated Press in an interview that despite the shock of the news, she felt more determination than ever to continue fighting for women’s rights in Iran.
“They want to get rid of me. When they want me dead, it means that I’m doing something. I’m hurting them so bad,” Alinejad, 48, said, referring to the Iranian government. “I’m echoing the voice of powerful women and that scares them.”
She raised her hand in a defiant fist repeatedly during the interview.
On Friday, the U.S. Justice Department said that it was charging a man who said he had been tasked by a government official before this week’s election with planning the assassination of Trump.
Investigators were told of the plan by Farhad Shakeri, an accused Iranian government asset who spent time in American prisons for robbery and who authorities say maintains a network of criminal associates enlisted by Tehran.
