Mere weeks after sparking the "Stealthy Freedoms" social movement, creator and London-based Iranian journalist Masih Alinejad is finding herself in the center of the story, and in the eye of the storm.
As ABC News previously reported, " Stealthy Freedoms of Iranian Women" is a social platform inviting Iranian women to share photos of themselves without the mandatory hijab. Though Alinejad, who has her own segment on Voice of America's "OnTen" program, does not endorse banning the hijab, she does advocate a woman's right to the most basic of freedoms - the freedom to choose, and the freedom to blow your hair in the breeze.
Alinejad is now facing steep criticism from Iranian state television in an attempt to temper her movement. Vahid Yaminpour, a conservative Iranian commentator and TV personality, is alleging that Alinejad was raped on the streets of London by three men as her son was made to stand by as a witness.
"Masih Alinejad is a whore, and not a heretic as some people claim her to be," Yaminpour wrote on his Facebook page. "We shouldn't elevate her to the level of a heretic. She's just trying to compensate her psychological (and probably financial) needs by recruiting young women and sharing her notoriety with younger women who are still not prostitutes."
Alinejad denied all allegations in an interview with ABC News, citing the comments as a weak attempt by Iranian officials to smear her reputation and quell the explosive activity around her Facebook page, which has now gained more than 450,000 likes.
"They want to keep journalists silent," she said. "I've been attacked several times, but this was the most fabricated, most disgusting news about me."
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