Thread by @IranRights_org

The kidnapping plot against @AlinejadMasih is not the first attempt the Islamic Republic's first assault against the freedom and life of Iranians living abroad - and without a definite, coordinated response, it will not be the last👇
iranrights.org/newsletter/iss…

📌In ongoing research, ABC has identified more than 540 Iranians assassinated or kidnapped in operations attributed to Iran - and many are still unaccounted for. Though many of these reported cases remain to be investigated, the general trend is alarming.

Countries neighboring Iran have witnessed more attacks, as have countries where transparency and accountability have not been a priority:
Iraq (30) excluding Iraqi Kurdistan (380 reported cases), Pakistan (30), and Turkey (28) +

Dissidents have been killed in smaller numbers in France (13), Afghanistan (at least 9), Germany (6), Austria, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, Sweden, the Netherlands, the United States, the UAE, Tajikistan, Tanzania, Azerbaijan, India, the Philippines, and Poland, and Spain.

With a peak in the 1990s of more than 397 (329 in Iraqi Kurdistan) killed – and a decline in the 2000s, with 20 known deaths – kidnappings, disappearances, and extra-judicial killings have spread fear in the exile community for over four decades.

📌States should ensure the protection of the rights of the refugees they host, and hold Iran accountable both for its systemic use of violence to silence dissidents and for expanding its terror apparatus into their territory.

Iran's leaders will continue to target those in exile who give citizens a voice, unless they are shown that the political cost of doing so is prohibitive.