Iranian journalist and author Masih Alinejad says Democratic Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar has been a part of a smear campaign against her.
Alinejad wrote an op-ed for the Washington Post criticizing the late Iranian General Qasem Soleimani and claiming that many Iranians viewed him as a warmonger and even a war criminal rather than a celebrated leader — and Friday evening, she told Fox News host Martha MacCallum that Omar had joined those attacking her.
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“So why is she coming after you?” MacCallum asked. (RELATED: They Thought They Had Trump ‘By The Short Hairs’: Geraldo Rivera Blasts FBI After FISA Report)
Alinejad said that she believed the attacks were a response to her recent article, saying, “I criticized Soleimani and I’ve said that many Iranians do not see him as a hero. They see him as a warmonger, as a war criminal. And that is why I got a lot of attacks by these Islamist lobbyists and she actually shared one of these defamatory articles against me.”
Alinejad said that what really bothered her was the fact that she had reached out to the freshman congresswoman on a number of occasions, asking her repeatedly to lend her voice to different situations.
“One time, six women got arrested just because of protesting compulsory hijab. Another time, 29 women in Iran got arrested in one day because of protesting compulsory hijab, and I asked Omar to join us and show solidarity. She was silent,” Alinejad began. “And another time when my brother was taken hostage by the Revolutionary Guard, I reach out to her. Silence again. My mother was interrogated for three hours just because of my activities. Again, she was silent. 1500 people got killed, she was silent. Right now, 176 people got killed in a suspicious situation in Iran, Ukrainian airplane — she’s silent!”
“Are you suggesting that she doesn’t care about the freedom that you are fighting for?” MacCallum pressed, asking whether Alinejad believed Omar was actually siding with the regime and against the peoplee.
“What I want to say is this: She broke her silence when I criticized the Islamic Republic,” Alinejad explained. “I criticized President Trump in Washington Post about travel bans, separated me from my son in the U.K. I haven’t seen my son for two years. Why didn’t she attack me when I criticized President Trump? … But as soon I criticized the criminals of the Islamic Republic and I called them warmongers and call them terrorists, called them religious dictatorship, then the Islamic lobbyists here they attack us.”