Masih Alinejad is founder of the My Stealthy Freedom campaign against the compulsory hijab, a women’s rights activist, author and journalist.
Born in Iran, Alinejad was jailed at 18 for her writings against the Islamic Republic. She became a journalist at the ILNA news agency and at Hambastegi, a reformist newspaper where she exposed corruption among Iranian members of parliament. She later became a columnist for Etemad Melli, a daily newspaper founded by presidential candidate Mehdi Karroubi.
She left Iran in 2009, escaping arrest after fraudulent presidential elections that saw the re-election of Mahmood Ahmadinejad. In 2014, Alinejad created the My Stealthy Freedom campaign to provide a platform for Iranian women to protest compulsory hijab rules. As part of this campaign, she has initiated a number of sub-campaigns including #MeninHijab, #WhiteWednesdays, #WalkingUnveiled and #MyCameraisMyWeapon.
In 2019, Alinejad’s family were arrested for her activism abroad, and in 2021 a plot to kidnap her from her home in New York was foiled by American intelligence services.
