March 9, 2022
The Iranian Americans for Liberty condemn the U.S. Government funded Voice of America (VOA) for promoting individuals who have openly threatened critics of activists and journalists that are employed by VOA.
VOA is controlled by U.S Agency for Global Media (USAGM), an agency of the US Government which is completely infiltrated and controlled by left wing and progressive activists. The corruption and lack of adequate oversight by AGM has led to VOA becoming a propaganda arm for various left-wing causes and a campaign arm of the Democratic Party during the US federal elections.
It’s our belief that VOA Persian service is one of the most corrupt divisions in the AGM. Many of the activist journalists currently employed by VOA Persian have a history of working for propaganda arms of various factions of the Iranian regime.
Masih (aka Masoumeh) Alinejad is one such individual who worked for various segments of Islamic Republic propaganda machine inside Iran. In March 2007, Ms. Alinejad left Iran.
Even after leaving Iran, she continued to parrot talking points of the Islamic Republic. For example, she expressed her dismay that many Iranians living abroad are sympathetic towards Israel, and she urged Iranian diaspora and journalists to join the antisemitic BDS movement targeting Israel. (1)
Furthermore, Ms. Alinejad has a history of echoing not just Iranian Regime talking points but also those of the Obama-Biden Administration. In 2015, she wrote a ballad romanticizing Javad Zarif and JCPOA. (2)
In December 2015, Ms. Alinejad produced and starred in a VOA video attacking the presidential campaign of Donald J. Trump. It should be noted that of the +15 individuals that appeared in the video, not a single person interviewed said anything in support of President Trump. This is because Ms. Alinejad refused to show anyone speaking in support of President Trump. (3)
Throughout this video production, Ms. Alinejad can be seen egging on people to make negative comments about President Trump and celebrating with them when they disparage President Trump. This is not journalism – this is electioneering and illegal for a US government funded agency to do.
Furthermore, this is a direct violation of VOA’s Charter which explicitly states they are prevented by law from only covering one viewpoint.
“VOA will represent America, not any single segment of American society, and will therefore present a balanced and comprehensive projection of significant thought and institutions”. (8)
Given the fact that Ms. Alinejad has attacked President Trump on multiple occasions both using her VOA platform and on her own social media platforms, we are not shocked that VOA had the audacity to then conspire with and openly promote social media accounts of certain individuals who act as Alinejad’s attack dogs.
One such person operates a Twitter account under the pseudonym “Sina Irani”. The individual behind this account, who is based inside Iran, has been invited to VOA programs on various occasions. (4), (5), (6). Meanwhile, our Executive Director Bryan E. Leib, has never been invited to appear on any VOA programs or be interviewed for any online stories despite numerous requests sent to VOA regarding Mr. Leib's availability and willingness to speak on a variety of issues.
On June 5, 2021, this Twitter account made a statement that reads “One day we should torture family members of those who criticize Masih Alinejad in front of their eyes so that they learn a lesson”.
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We find it truly abhorrent that after threatening family members of Alinejad’s critics, VOA continues to promote the individual behind this Twitter account with impunity. We strongly condemn VOA for promoting this Twitter account again on February 25, 2021. (7)
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Promoting Sina Irani’s tweet in Tablet show (VOA) on February 10, 2022
In closing, we call on VOA to apologize for conspiring to threaten critics of Biden Administration and Ms. Alinejad. In addition, we call on the House Foreign Affairs Committee and House Committee on Appropriates to launch Congressional investigation into AGM to get to the bottom of this mess.
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