News Archives

4/26/20226 minutes Author: Lawdan Bazargan The author, whose brother was executed in Iran in 1988, argues that Russian atrocities in Bucha are not much different from mass killing of prisoners in Iran. Opinion – Earlier this month, the world woke up to the horrific images of the bodies of dead civilians lying on the streets of Bucha, Ukraine — some with their hands bound, some with gunshot wounds to the head. These shocking images of bodies in the streets have led to an outpouring of international condemnation of Russia. In response to accusations of war crimes, Russia’s Ministry of Defense denied responsibility. Russia’s ambassador to the UN, Wesley Nabin Zia, claimed that Moscow would present “practical evidence” to the Security Council, showing that its forces had nothing to do with the killings of Ukraine civilians. Russia’s propaganda machine also claimed Ukrainian forces “staged” or carried out the war crimes themselves. All dictators use the same playbook. In 1988, the Islamic Regime of Iran suddenly executed more than 5000 political prisoners, who had already been sentenced to prison terms, and spent several years behind bars. The only notice the families received from the authorities was a phone call or a short meeting with the authorities informing them that their children were executed because “they were apostates and had forsaken their Islamic religion.” The victims’ families were told not to mourn for their loved ones or organize memorial services. At the time that social media and satellite images were a dream of the future, the families found one of these mass graves, took some pictures, prepared lists of the names of people hanged, and sent them to the United Nations and Amnesty International and demanded an investigation,justice, and accountability. Mohammad Jafar Mahallati, the Islamic Regime of Iran’s ambassador to the United Nations at the time, just like Russia’s Ambassador to the United Nations, denied the families’ accusations and called the allegations about the mass executions “political propaganda against the Islamic Republic.“ The 1988 massacre is now well-documented. Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch called the killings “ongoing crimes against humanity.” In 2012, The Iran Tribunal, a one-of-a-kind grassroots movement modeled on the famous Russell Tribunal of the 1960s, came together to document the atrocities of the Islamic Republic of Iran during the 1980s. The presiding volunteer international judges, who are some of the highest human rights academics and jurists in the world, unanimously concluded that these crimes fit the definition of crimes against humanity, as described in the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. In 2013, Canada’s parliament recognized the Massacre as constituting crimes against humanity. Thanks to satellite technology, we know that Russia is lying and Ukraine’s accusations are true. Iranians have similar photos of one of the mass graves, called Khavaran. Khavaran Cemetery is an irregular, unmarked cemetery located in southeast Tehran. Since early 1981, the Islamic Regime of Iran buried leftists opponents in Khavaran because “they were apostates and must not contaminate the resting place of Muslims.” Once the families received the news of the executions, a few went to Khavaran. These families witnessed shallow graves with plastic bags and pieces of clothing poking out of the soil. They started moving the dirt with their hands and found scores of bodies dumped on top of each other. Mothers and relatives of the victims were shocked and could not make sense of the unfolding scene. The families took some pictures of the atrocity around them. Part of the head and face of a young man were lying in the dirt, the hand of someone was hanging in the air, and there were pieces of clothing sticking out of the soil. These pictures proved the Islamic Regime of Iran’s crime and show the length a brutal government is willing to go to eliminate its opponents. To punish Russia for its crimes in Bucha, more sanctions against Russian banks and institutions were announced, and two adult daughters of Russian President Vladimir Putin, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov’s wife Maria and daughter Ekaterina, and members of Russia’s national security council were added to the sanction lists. In Iran’s case, not only the people involved in these crimes against humanity did not receive punishment, but they also received higher posts. Khamenei, president at the time, was elevated to Supreme Leader and has ruled the country for the past 33 years with an iron fist. Mostafa Poormohammadi, the deputy intelligence minister, became Justice Minister. Hossein-Ali Nayeri, a religious judge in the revolutionary court, became President of the Supreme Disciplinary Court for Judges. Ebrahim Raisi, a deputy prosecutor, is now the Islamic Regime of Iran’s President. The most shocking, though, is that Mohammad Jafar Mahallati, Islamic Republic of Iran’s Ambassador to the UN, is now a religious professor at Oberlin College in Ohio and teaches peace and ethics, among other subjects! Despite several letters that the family members of the victims of the 1988 Massacre have written to Oberlin College’s President Ambar and the board of trustees and two protests that they organized in front of the college, the administration refuses to fire Mahallati. Professor Jeffrey Robertson, human rights barrister, author, academic, and authority in crimes against humanity, concluded in his 2000 report about the 1988 Massacre that Mahallati is implicated in crimes against humanity, and the 2018 report of Amnesty International drew the same conclusion. Oberlin college claims that their internal investigation did not show that Mahallati knew about the Massacre, and thus he can continue to teach American students! Back in 1988, the International Criminal Court was not established yet. Crimes against humanity and enforced disappearance were not codified into the law the way it is now. Still, Iran was one of the signers of the Genocide Convention of 1948, the Geneva Convention of 1949, and the International Covenant of Civil and Political Rights of 1966. Thus the Islamic Regime of Iran was bound by these rules. Furthermore, Amnesty’s Senior Research Adviser wrote, “All former and current officials who continue to treat the mass killings as state secrets effectively stand with those who have blood on their hands.” All of these should be enough for a Liberal Art College with anContinue reading “Opinion – Russian Massacres In Ukraine And Prisoner Mass Murder In Iran”

– در سال ۱۳۶۷ رژیم اسلامی ایران بیش از ۵۰۰۰ زندانی سیاسی را که پیش از این به زندان محکوم شده بودند،  و چندین سال را پشت میله‌های زندان  گذرانده بودند، به ناگهان اعدام کرد. تنها خبری که خانواده‌های قربانیان از مسئولان دریافت کردند، یک  تماس تلفنی یا ملاقات کوتاهی با مسئولان بود که به آنها اطلاع می‌داد فرزندانشان اعدام شده‌اند زیرا «مرتد بودند و هویت اسلامی خود را کنار گذاشته بودند.»– محمد جعفر محلاتی سفیر وقت رژیم اسلامی ایران در سازمان ملل متحد درآن زمان، درست مانند سفیر امروز روسیه در سازمان ملل که کشتار غیرنظامیان در اوکراین را رد می‌کند، اتهامات خانواده‌ها را تکذیب کرد و این ادعاها در مورد اعدام‌های دستجمعی را «تبلیغات سیاسی علیه جمهوری اسلامی» نامید. جمعه ۲ اردیبهشت ۱۴۰۱ برابر با ۲۲ آپریل ۲۰۲۲ لادن بازرگان – هفته گذشته هنگامی‌که جهان از خواب بیدار شد با تصاویر وحشتناکی از اجساد غیرنظامیان کشته شده در خیابان‌های بوچا در اوکراین مواجه شد. این عکس‌ها پیکر مردم عادی را در حالی که دست‌هایشان از پشت بسته شده بود و گلوله‌ای سر و یا بدن آنها را زندگی را از آنان ستانده بود، به تصویر می‌کشید. جامعه جهانی بعد از دیدن این تصاویر تکان‌دهنده، روسیه را به جنایت علیه بشریت متهم کرد. وزارت دفاع روسیه در واکنش به اتهامات مربوط به جنایات جنگی، مسئولیت کشورش در کشتار غیرنظامیان را تکذیب کرد. واسسلی نابین ضیا سفیر روسیه در سازمان ملل ادعا کرد که مسکو «شواهد عملی» را به شورای امنیت ارائه خواهد داد که نشان می‌دهد نیروهای روسیه دخالتی در قتل غیرنظامیان اوکراینی ندارند. ماشین تبلیغاتی روسیه نیز ادعا کرد که نیروهای اوکراینی «صحنه‌سازی» کرده‌اند و خودشان این جنایت جنگی را انجام داده‌اند. واقعیت این است که همه دیکتاتورها از شیوه‌های یکسانی برای پوشاندن حقیقت استفاده می‌کنند. در سال ۱۳۶۷ رژیم اسلامی ایران بیش از ۵۰۰۰ زندانی سیاسی را که پیش از این به زندان محکوم شده بودند،  و چندین سال را پشت میله‌های زندان  گذرانده بودند، به ناگهان اعدام کرد. تنها خبری که خانواده‌های قربانیان از مسئولان دریافت کردند، یک  تماس تلفنی یا ملاقات کوتاهی با مسئولان بود که به آنها اطلاع می‌داد فرزندانشان اعدام شده‌اند زیرا «مرتد بودند و هویت اسلامی خود را کنار گذاشته بودند.» به  خانواده‌های جانباختگان گفته شد اجازه سوگواری و یا اجرای مراسم یادبود برای عزیزانشان ندارند. با اینکه در آن زمان  رسانه‌های اجتماعی و تصاویر ماهواره‌ای رویاهای دوردستی بودند، خانواده‌ها یکی از این گورهای دستجمعی را پیدا کردند، چند عکس گرفتند، فهرست‌هایی از نام افراد به دار آویخته شده تهیه کردند و به سازمان ملل متحد و سازمان عفو بین‌الملل فرستادند و خواستار تحقیق، عدالت و پاسخگویی شدند. محمد جعفر محلاتی سفیر وقت رژیم اسلامی ایران در سازمان ملل متحد درآن زمان، درست مانند سفیر امروز روسیه در سازمان ملل، اتهامات خانواده‌ها را تکذیب کرد و این ادعاها در مورد اعدام‌های دستجمعی را «تبلیغات سیاسی علیه جمهوری اسلامی» نامید. امروز اما قتل عام زندانیان سیاسی در سال ۱۳۶۷ به خوبی مستند شده است. سازمان عفو بین‌الملل و دیده‌بان حقوق بشر این قتل‌ها را « ناپدیدسازی قهری» و « جنایات مستمرعلیه بشریت» می‌دانند. در سال ۲۰۱۲ جمعی از خانواده‌های جانباختگان جنایات‌های رژیم اسلامی ایران در دهه ۶۰ و زندانیان سیاسی سابق در دادگاه مردمی‌«ایران تریبونال» که از دادگاه معروف راسل دهه ۱۹۶۰ الگو گرفته بود، گرد هم آمدند تا فجایع جمهوری اسلامی ایران را در طول دهه ۱۳۶۰ مستند کنند. قضات بین‌المللی داوطلب که برخی از بالاترین دانشگاهیان و حقوقدانان حقوق بشر در جهان هستند، به اتفاق آرا به این نتیجه رسیدند که جرائم انجام شده متناسب با تعریف جنایت علیه بشریت-همانطور که در اساسنامه رم دادگاه کیفری بین‌المللی شرح داده شده است- می‌باشد. در سال ۲۰۱۳ پارلمان کانادا نیز این قتل عام را به عنوان جنایت علیه بشریت به رسمیت شناخت. امروز به لطف فناوری ماهواره‌ای می‌دانیم که روسیه دروغ می‌گوید و اتهامات اوکراین درباره جنایت جنگی در بوچا به دست ارتش روسیه درست است. ایرانیان نیز عکس‌های مشابهی از یکی از گورهای دستجمعی به نام خاوران دارند. گورستان خاوران گورستانی نامنظم و بی‌نشان واقع در جنوب شرقی تهران است. از اوایل سال  ۱۳۶۰ رژیم اسلامی ایران هواداران سازمان‌های سیاسی چپ را در خاوران به خاک می‌سپرد زیرا طبق قوانین اسلامی «آنان مرتد بودند و نباید قبرستان‌های مسلمانان را آلوده  می‌کردند.» هنگامی‌ که خانواده‌ها خبر اعدام‌ها را دریافت کردند، چند نفر به خاوران رفتند. این خانواده‌ها با گورهای کم‌عمقی مواجه شدند که کیسه‌های پلاستیکی و تکه‌هایی از لباس از ان بیرون زده بود. آنان با ناباوری با دست‌هایشان شروع به کندن خاک کردند و تعداد زیادی جسد پیدا کردند که بر روی یکدیگر ریخته شده بود. مادران و بستگان جانباختگان از دیدن این صحنه‌ها شوکه شدند و چند عکس از جنایتی که اتفاق افتاده بود گرفتند. قسمتی  از سر و صورت جوانی بر روی خاک افتاده است، دست کسی در هوا آویزان است و تکه‌هایی از لباس‌ها از خاک بیرون زده است. این تصاویر جنایت رژیم اسلامی ایران را برای همیشه ثبت کرده و نشان می‌دهد که یک دولت فاشیست مذهبی حاضر است برای از بین بردن مخالفان خود چه میزان قساوت و وحشیگری به خرج بدهد. برای مجازات روسیه به خاطر جنایاتش در بوچا، تحریم‌های بیشتری علیه بانک‌ها و نهادهای مختلف روسی اعلام شد  و دو دختر ولادیمیر پوتین رئیس جمهور روسیه، ماریا همسر سرگئی لاوروف وزیر امور خارجه روسیه و دخترش یکاترینا و اعضای شورای امنیت ملی روسیه به فهرست تحریم‌ها اضافه شدند. اما در ایران نه تنها افراد دخیل در این جنایت علیه بشریت مجازات نشده‌اند بلکه به درجات بالاتری نیز رسیدند. خامنه‌ای رئیس جمهوری اسلامی وقت، به «مقام معظم رهبری» رسیده و در ۳۰ سال گذشته با مشت آهنین بر کشور حکومت می‌کند. مصطفی پورمحمدی معاون وزیر اطلاعات، وزیر دادگستری شد. حسینعلی نیری قاضی دادگاه انقلاب، رئیس دادگاه عالی انضباطی قضات شد. ابراهیم رئیسی معاون دادستان،هم رئیس قوه قضائیه شد و هم اکنون رئیس جمهور رژیم اسلامی ایران است. کافکایی‌ترین قسمت این است  که محمدجعفر محلاتی سفیر وقت جمهوری اسلامی ایران در سازمان ملل متحد، هم‌اکنون استاد مذهبی کالج اوبرلین در اوهایو است و صلح و اخلاق تدریس می‌کند! با وجود چندین نامه که اعضای خانواده جانباختگان کشتار ۶۷ به رئیس کالج اوبرلین و هیئت مدیره انContinue reading “مقایسه قتل عام بوچا در اوکراین و کشتار زندانیان سیاسی در سال ۶۷ در ایران”

‘It employs a man with blood on his hands while serving for the largest terror sponsoring government’  By BENJAMIN WEINTHAL Published: APRIL 15, 2022 13:51 Charlie Weimers, a prominent Swedish member of the European parliament demanded on Thursday that the Ohio-based Oberlin College summarily fire its professor, Mohammad Jafar Mahallati, for his alleged role in covering up the mass murder of at least 5,000 innocent Iranian prisoners during the summer of 1988 in Iran. When asked by the Post if Oberlin College’s president Carmen Twillie Ambar should dismiss Mahallati, Weimers told The Jerusalem Post: “Absolutely! Not today or tomorrow, it should have been yesterday.” He added: “Any person serving for the world’s largest terror sponsoring regime should be sanctioned, especially those at the top and those who seek to cover up the crimes against humanity by that regime, like Mr. Mahallati.” The United States, under both Democratic and Republican administrations, have classified Iran’s regime as the top international state-sponsor of terrorism. Ambar has refused to meet with the families of the victims of 1988 massacre.  Weimers told the Post that “it is an absolute disgrace that Oberlin College President Ambar refuses to meet with the families of over 5,000 innocent victims of crimes against humanity. “For a college that states that it seeks a ‘respectful exchange of ideas and shares an enduring commitment to a sustainable and just society,’ the last thing one would expect is  that it employs a man with blood on his hands while serving for the largest terror sponsoring government in the world and that its President snubs victims and their families of that terrorist regime, who seek to ensure a just society.” Weimers is widely regarded as one of the leading champions within the European Parliament of the victims of the theocratic state in Tehran, Iranian dissidents and for the promotion of Iranian democracy and civil rights. The Swedish lawmaker said: “President Ambar must choose to stand on the right side of history, otherwise her position and that of her college are an absolute disgrace and a slap in the face to all victims of cruel, terrorist and immoral regimes.” Mahallati denied to the Post in 2020 that he covered up the mass murder in 1988 However, Amnesty International issued a highly detailed report in 2018, determining that Mahallati played a key role in covering up the 1988  massacre while serving as the Iranian regime’s ambassador to the UN. Raising the stakes Weimer’s entry into the row over Mahallati has raised the stakes for Oberlin College, as he is the first major politician to weigh in on Mahallati and has now turned the intense dispute over Mahallati’s employment into a wider global controversy. The 1988 massacre is currently front-and-center in the Swedish judiciary. Former Iranian judicial official Hamid Noury is currently on trial in Sweden for war crimes and for murder in connection with his alleged role in the mass execution of Iranian political prisoners in 1988 in Iran. Noury is on trial in Stockholm  for the mass murder of 136 Iranians in Gohardasht prison in Karaj, near Tehran, while he allegedly worked as an assistant to the deputy prosecutor. The Alliance Against Islamic Regime of Iran Apologists (AAIRIA) announced a protest against Mahallati and Ambar during the first week of June at Oberlin during the graduation ceremony week. The Post has learned that the AAIRIA plans protests against multiple businesses of Oberlin College trustees, including the global  law firm Greenberg Traurig Oberlin College trustee Charles S. Birenbaum, who is a shareholder of the Greenberg Traurig where he serves as its chair of its northern California branch, declined to respond to multiple Post queries on the matter.  When asked about Greenberg Traurig’s legal representation of Mahallati, Jill Perry, the managing director and  chief marketing officer of Greenberg Traurig, told the Post: “We are in receipt of your message. Our firm never represented Oberlin College in the investigation or otherwise on the matter, and whomever advised you of this is incorrect.” The Post asked Greenberg Traurig: How much did Oberlin College pay your law firm to represent Mr. Mahallati? Or was the legal work done pro bono? When the Post pressed Perry about a factsheet on Oberlin College’s website that states Greenberg Traurig’s Gregory W. Kehoe represents Mahallati, Perry said: ”As we told you, our firm did not represent Oberlin College in the investigation or otherwise on this matter. We cannot comment of the specifics of any client representation, but one of our lawyers did briefly represent the Professor in late 2020. He is no longer a client of our firm. We will look into what Oberlin College may have put into its website; but we will not have or make further comment for your story.” After the Post queries, Oberlin College scrubbed Greenberg Traurig and Kehoe’s names from its factsheet. The only reference to legal representation is the statement “ From the attorney” with respect to the document that claims to exonerate Mahallati of the allegations he was complicit in a cover up of crimes against humanity, his documented calls to abolish Israel and promote jihadi violence against the Jewish state, and his role in the incitement of persecution against the Baha’i community in Iran. The Post secured a screenshot of the original factsheet that lists Greenberg Traurig and Kehoe as Mahallati’s legal representation. Perry declined to answer if there is a conflict of interest. In a November, 2021, Jason Hawk, a journalist for the Chronicle-Telegram in Oberlin, reported that Mahallati’s “lawyer, Gregory Kehoe of the firm Greenberg Traurig, said criticisms leveled against Mahallati are ‘completely unjustified.”’ When the Post asked Oberlin College spokesman Scott Wargo about Greenberg Traurig, Wargo said: “The College has prepared a fact sheet about Professor Mahallati that also includes a statement from the College… The College doesn’t have any further comment.”  It is unclear why Oberlin College wiped Greenberg Traurig and Kehoe off its factsheet.  The AAIRIA plans to protest at the businesses and employment locations of Oberlin College trustees, Amy Chen Chief Investment Officer, Office of Investments at the Smithsonian in Washington D.C.; Chris Canavan, from Lion’s Head Global Partners; Chesley Maddox-Dorsey, Chief Executive Officer at AmericanContinue reading “EU politician urges Oberlin College to fire Iran regime ‘criminal’”

By Jason Hawk The Chronicle-Telegram Apr 09, 2022 5:00 AM OBERLIN — A protest group that has repeatedly called for the termination of an Islamic studies professor at Oberlin College is now backing a push for increased compensation for the institution’s employees. Asking for raises and a better medical insurance plan, professors and students have rallied in recent months. They’ve leveled accusations of mismanagement against the college, and have branded board of trustees members as hypocrites for their treatment of union of employees while sitting on a $1 billion endowment. Joining the fray is the Alliance Against Islamic Regime of Iran Apologists, which sent a letter to the college last week backing “better work conditions, health benefits and adequate remuneration” for Oberlin faculty and staff. The group of alumni, human rights activists and Iranian-Americans has demanded since October 2020 that the college fire religion professor Mohammad Jafar Mahallati. He was Iran’s ambassador to the United Nations in the 1980s during the state-sanctioned execution of untold thousands of political prisoners. At question is whether Mahallati was aware of and helped cover up evidence of the killings. Amnesty International lists Mahallati among those the organization claims “were actively involved in denying the mass killings in media interviews and exchanges with the U.N. to shield those responsible from accountability.” Oberlin College claims it reviewed a 2018 Amnesty International report in which accusations were leveled against Mahallati and engaged professional investigators to evaluate what role he may have played. Mahallati denies the allegations, and the college said its inquiry didn’t find proof to corroborate them. The college has not bowed to the Alliance Against Islamic Regime of Iran Apologists’ demands despite repeated protests. Another is being planned for June 5. “We have requested that the college initiate a transparent and independent investigation into professor Mahallati’s cover-up of the 1988 prison massacres,” said a release provided by activist Lawdan Bazargan. “All our calls have remained unanswered; all the documents we submitted to corroborate Mahallati’s role have been ignored. Our repeated demands for justice and accountability have been dismissed.” The group said Oberlin College has failed to live up to its ideals of fighting for social justice and defending human rights. Scott Wargo, director of media relations for the college, did not provide any new comment. Contact Jason Hawk at (440) 329-7122 or news@lcnewspapers.com. Please Click Here for the article.

‘Celebrating 43 years of resistance against the gender apartheid Islamic regime of Iran’ By BENJAMIN WEINTHAL Published: MARCH 9, 2022 09:48 Updated: MARCH 9, 2022 09:56 Iranian-Americans, college students and community members assembled in the town of Oberlin, Ohio on Saturday to protest against the gender apartheid policies of the Islamic Republic of Iran and the alleged role of an Oberlin College professor in the cover-up of a massacre of 5,000 Iranians in 1988. “Celebrating 43 Years of Iranian Women[‘s] Resistance Against the Gender Apartheid Islamic Regime of Iran,” read one sign held by Lawdan Bazargan, the lead organizer of the demonstration. The demonstration was held ahead of International Women’s Day, marked on March 8. Bazargan told The Jerusalem Post about the dire plight of a number of incarcerated Iranian women spotlighted at the protest. She cited the case of “Maryam Akbari Monfared, who was born in 1975, and three of her brothers and a sister were executed in the 1980s or in the 1988 massacre. As an adult woman, when she demanded an answer about why they were executed, she was put in jail. She was arrested in 2009 and was sentenced to 15 years. Her children grew up without her.”  A second case involves “ Saba Kord Afshari, a 20-year-old girl who protested against compulsory [wearing of the] hijab, who was sentenced to 27 years in jail on the charges of ‘promoting corruption and prostitution through appearing without a headscarf in public,’ and on the charge of ‘propaganda against the state,’ and on the charge of ‘assembly and collusion with an intent to commit a crime against national security.’ Later Afshari’s mother was arrested too because she spoke up demanding her daughter’s release,” Bazargan said. The activists want Oberlin College President Carmen Ambar to fire Mohammad Jafar Mahallati, a professor of religion and Tehran’s former ambassador to the UN, for his reported role in the mass murder of Iranian dissidents. According to a 2018 Amnesty International report, Mahallati engaged, as Iran’s ambassador to the UN, in “crimes against humanity” by aiding the clerical regime in the killing spree conducted throughout the state’s prisons. Thousands of male and female prisoners were summarily slaughtered during the summer of 1988. Bazargan said at the protest that Mahallati should not be allowed to “teach ethics and peace” due to the grave allegation of “crimes against humanity” leveled against him. “We want justice and accountability,” she said, adding that new research showed that Mahallati declared, in a 1981 interview, that the persecuted Bahaʼi religion should not exist. Bazargan, whose brother Bijan was murdered by the Iranian regime in 1988 for his leftist views, announced, in a statement directed to Ambar: “Rest assured, we are coming back in June for the graduation” ceremony at the college. Roughly 75 Iranian-Americans and human rights activists protested against Mahallati in November. The activities against Mahallati have morphed into a global campaign that has unified the entire spectrum of Iranian dissident organizations and parties. A group of 15 people showed up on Saturday. Iranian-Americans are outraged at Ambar’s refusal to meet with the families of the 1988 victims. Post interviews with the protesters and activists involved in the campaign against Mahallati revealed a consensus among Iranian-Americans that the Oberlin College administration and its board of trustees do not value Iranian lives. Mahallati denied that he committed crimes against humanity, in a statement to the Post in October 2020 Oberlin College spokesman Scott Wargo sent the Post a fact sheet about Mahallati that appears on the school’s website. He added that “The college doesn’t have any further comment.” The Post previously reported on the fact sheet.  “Caution: Accomplice to Massacre Teaches at this College,” a sign held by Marjan Ghadrdan at the protest read. A third poster declared, “Four Decades of Resistance against Forced Hijab.” The Iranian regime requires women to cover their hair with a scarf, and if they refuse, they are subject to incarceration. According to an article by Dave O’Brien in the local paper, The Chronicle-Telegram, additional posters at the protest read, “Ask Mahallati Why he Lied,” “Ask Mahallati Why He Denied” and “Mahallati Represented a Murderous Regime with No Respect for Human Lives and Human Rights.” The Oberlin Committee for Justice for Mahallati’s Victims issued a statement ahead of Saturday’s protest: “To our dismay, the Board [of Trustees] decided to ignore our letter and Oberlin Review’s Editorial Board’s assessment that ‘Evidence against Mahallati was irrefutable.’ In addition, documents show that Mahallati stoked incitement against the people of the Baha’i faith and delivered antisemitic speeches against Israel and the Jewish people at the UN.” The statement continued, “We are taking the fight to the Board of Trustees of Oberlin College, including the chair, Chris Canavan, vice-chair Chelsey Maddox-Dorsey, and Amy Chen, the first chief investment officer at the Smithsonian Institution. We believe the continuation of employment of Mr. Mahallati violates Oberlin College’s historical stance on inclusion, respect, and tolerance.” The Committee for Justice added, “We are heartened by the outpouring of support from the Oberlin community that prides itself on pursuing justice. Oberlin’s Board should assume the same principled stance in support of the victims’ families rather than tarnish the university’s reputation” Their reputation is “rightfully damaged with each day that its leadership denies accountability. Prospective students and donors are watching whether the school’s Board of Trustees will act with integrity and oust Mohammad Jafar Mahallati.” The Committee added. Bazargan slammed Oberlin town councilman Ray English, a former director of libraries for Oberlin College, saying he had launched a campaign to discredit Iranian-Americans and advance the goals of the Tehran regime. “Ray English should be embarrassed to be using the same propaganda as the Islamic Republic,” she said. “We will not listen to his smear campaign. He should come to join with the victims of Mahallati.” Bazargan said English is “racist, xenophobic and antisemitic” because of a controversial memorandum he circulated dated February 17 and titled “The Jafar Mahallati Controversy: A Tentative Assessment.” The 10-page document, a copy of which was obtained by the Post, claims “Conservative elements withinContinue reading “International Women’s Day protest against Iran’s regime and ex-UN envoy Mahallati”

Please Click Here for the article. Undoubtedly, you have not heard of me. I am just one of hundreds of thousands of Iranian citizens who were forced by the terrorist regime under Ruhollah Khomeni and Ali Khameni to leave their beloved homeland in the past decades. Unlike you, I don’t get to study at one of the most prestigious liberal arts colleges in the U.S. I live a much simpler life in a developing country in Latin America: the only place I could run away to after the Iranian regime began to investigate my political cartoons and activities. While you know nothing of me, I and many other young people from Iran have heard all about your college. Specifically, we have been shocked to hear you employ a former Iranian regime diplomat, Mohammad Jafar Mahallati, as a professor of Religion and Islamic Studies. We have been stunned to hear that this official is involved with interdisciplinary courses in the field of “friendship and forgiveness studies.” Much of the debate about Professor Mahallati’s position at your college seems to focus on the question of whether he knew about certain mass executions of dissidents by the regime, and whether, as an Iranian diplomat at the United Nations, he knowingly misled the world about them. But debating this question is a waste of time. We will never know whether Professor Mahallati knew about the specific crimes committed by the regime, and was periodically parroting the denialist propaganda coming from his superiors in Tehran merely as a part of his job, or whether he really believed what he was saying, unaware of his colleagues’ crimes. Let’s look at it in the light most favorable to him: that he didn’t know about these massacres, and that he presented Tehran’s excuses and denials at the U.N. with sincerity and credulity. The point here is not what exactly Professor Mahallati did, said, or believed while employed by the terrorist regime in Tehran. The point is that he voluntarily worked for this regime as an international representative and diplomat. People like him — soft-spoken, well-mannered, bureaucratic drones — are exactly the reason why the regime apparatus exists, and why it continues to oppress my people. Individually, such people do nothing of note. In fact, they might well be incapable of killing a fly, let alone planning a crime. Together, as part of the bureaucratic apparatus working for the usurper’s regime in Tehran, such people are the trivial face of unspeakable evil. They are the cogs and bolts in the apparatus of a regime that represents true depravity and sadism like almost no other. Islam does not know national chauvinism. But the regime viciously promotes Persian language and toxic Persian ethnic supremacism at the cost of the many other Indigenous peoples of Iran, their languages, or cultures: Baluchs, Arabs, Armenians, Lurs, Jews, Georgians, Kurds, Turkmen, Azerbaijanis, and many others. One of the very first acts of the so-called “Islamic Republic” in 1979 was ethnocidal mass murder against rebellious Kurds; countless other non-Persian Indigenous ethnic groups have been targeted since then by discrimination, land theft, and forced assimilation. Shia Islamic thought emphasizes social justice and compassion, but the regime emphasizes social-Darwinist capitalism with no limits. The rich live in huge villas filled with the latest imported luxury goods, while the poor literally starve. The regime consciously chooses to spend the money on terrorism, bombs, and war, rather than on helping Iranian citizens put bread on the table. This is the reality of the regime Professor Mahallati chose to work for. I do not wish to tell you to sack Professor Mahallati. America has academic freedom, and this principle is more valuable than a trivial villain like Professor Mahallati. Instead, I ask your students to stand up for the less privileged; for those who were murdered, tortured or robbed of their home by the regime which Professor Mahallati worked for. Raise your voice for them. Every time you attend a class with this professor, bring one of the flags of the oppressed Indigenous peoples of Iran to class and stick it to your desk. Fly the free colors of Kurdistan, of South Azerbaijan, of Balochistan, of Turkmen Sahra, of Arab Ahwaz, and all the other cultures and identities the tyrants in Tehran are trying to destroy and assimilate into oblivion. Wear a t-shirt with a photo of a dissenter murdered by the regime, like Dr. Abdul Rahman Ghassemlou, who was killed in 1989 by regime agents in the conference room while trying to negotiate peace. If there is an empty chair in your classroom, dedicate it to all the young, poor men in Balochistan who won’t be able to sit in any university classroom because they have been hanged by the racist regime on false drug charges, scapegoats to hide the fact that the regime’s so-called “revolutionary guards” are the biggest narco-mafia in Middle Eastern history. Make sure Professor Mahallati sees the reality of the regime every day, so he cannot hide behind ignorance about what system he served in his own past role. The classroom should not be a venue for the ex-servants of tyranny to posture as intellectuals. If you want real education at your college, turn the tables, use your right to non-violent dissent. Give Professor Mahallati a peaceful but vivid lesson in what freedom and democracy really mean.

Please Click Here for the article. This story has been updated with a response from Oberlin College. OBERLIN — Critics of an Oberlin College professor they claim is a human-rights abuser publicly protested his continued employment at the college Saturday. About a dozen protesters held and waved signs at the southeast corner of Tappan Square in downtown Oberlin, calling for a transparent investigation into professor Mohammad Jafar Mahallati. “Ask Mahallati why he lied,” read one of the signs. “Ask Mahallati why he denied.” “Mahallati represented a murderous regime with no respect for human lives and human rights,” read another. Mahallati is the Nancy Schrom Dye Chair in Middle East and North African Studies at Oberlin College, where he has taught since 2007. From 1987 to 1989 he was Iran’s ambassador to the United Nations, partially during the Iran-Iraq war. Mahallati has said he was working on the peace process when the war ended in 1988, but critics say he was involved in the state-sponsored execution of thousands of political and religious prisoners by the Iranian regime. In October 2020, a letter signed by more than 600 people was sent to college President Carmen Twillie Ambar accusing Mahallati of covering up crimes against humanity and calling for him to be fired. Lawdan Bazargan, whose brother Bijan was arrested and killed by the Iranian regime, said Saturday that Oberlin College is continuing to protect a professor she said committed crimes against humanity. Mahallati knew for years of Iran’s persecution of political opponents and religious minorities such as the Baha’is and covered it up, said Bazargan, who said she spent 100 days in solitary confinement in Iran when she was 16 after speaking out against the Iran-Iraq war and more time on probation afterward, unable to leave the country or attend school. She and other protesters passed out flyers Saturday urging Oberlin College students to boycott Mahallati’s classes, to ask Ambar to meet with victims’ families, and to contact the college board of trustees and ask them to take action. Bazargan said rumors that protesters are “anti-Islamic” and funded by right-wing or pro-Israel factions are untrue. His critics are doctors, Ph.D.s and engineers who were persecuted or lost family under the Iranian regime, she said. The college is so closely connected to the city financially and socially that other academics, college alumni and former college employees are afraid to speak out publicly against Mahallati, Bazargan said. “History is hidden because of people like Mahallati,” she said. That he has continued to be allowed to teach students means “he’s raised a new generation of apologists for the regime of Iran.” In late 2021, Mahallati released a statement in which he said his accusers “have not found a single statement from me that is remotely consistent with their unfounded accusations” and that he believes in religious freedom for all. The college’s website includes a response to the allegations at bit.ly/3vLNBGq describing the results of the investigation into the claims made by Mahallati’s critics. Oberlin College spokesman Scott Wargo said the college had no comment on Saturday’s protest, and pointed a reporter to the online fact sheet. Contact Dave O’Brien at (440) 329-7129 or dobrien@chroniclet.com. Follow him on Twitter @daveobrienCT.

We, a group of families of executed political prisoners in Iran, Oberlin College students, alumni, and human rights activists, will protest for the second time at Oberlin to urge Oberlin’s Board of Trustees to order school officials to investigate the reported crimes against humanity conducted by the College tenured Professor Mohammad Jafar Mahallati and oust him. The protest celebrates International Women’s Day and will be held on Saturday, March 5, 2022, from 12 to 2 PM EST at the corner of College Street & Main Street, Oberlin, Ohio.    After more than a year of advocacy, extensive media coverage, interviews by family members of victims of the 1988 Massacre and independent experts, and most importantly, a large protest on campus attended by many students and concerned citizens on November 2, 2021, President Ambar and the Oberlin administration has failed to transparently address the issues we outlined in our initial letter or engage in any constructive forms with the families of victims.  Thus, on December 28, 2021, we turned to the Oberlin College Board of Trustees (Board), made them aware of the injustice of having a professor on staff who reportedly was complicit in the massacre of 5000 innocent Iranian citizens, and sought their assistance in implementing transparency and accountability. We were hopeful that the Board would put the College’s values above any politics because of a precedent when they intervened in Joy Karega‘sscandal and rightfully removed her from her position. We expected the Board would take seriously Amnesty International’s report Blood-Soaked Secrets: Why Iran’s 1988 Prison Massacres Are Ongoing Crimes Against Humanity and the assessment of Amnesty’s Senior Research Adviser, seriously enough that “All former and current officials who continue to treat the mass killings as state secrets effectively stand with those who have blood on their hands.”  To our dismay, the Board decided to ignore our letter and  Oberlin Review’s Editorial Board’s assessment that “Evidence against Mahallati was irrefutable.” In addition, documents show that Mahallati stoked incitement against the people of the Baha’i faith and delivered Anti-Semitic speeches against Israel and Jewish people at the UN. Thus, we are taking the fight to the Board of Trustees of Oberlin College, including the chair, Chris Canavan, vice-chair Chelsey Maddox-Dorsey, and Amy Chen, the first chief investment officer at the Smithsonian Institution. We believe the continuation of employment of Mr. Mahallati violates Oberlin College’s historical stance on inclusion, respect, and tolerance. We are heartened by the outpouring of support from the Oberlin Community that prides itself on pursuing justice. Oberlin’s Board should assume the same principled stance in support of the victims’ families rather than tarnish the university’s reputation, which is rightfully damaged with each day that its leadership denies accountability. Prospective students and donors are watching whether the school’s Board of Trustees will act with integrity and oust Mohammad Jafar Mahallati.  Committee for Justice for Mahallati’s Victims  Contact: Lawdan Bazargan: Tel: 562-212-9546  Email: JusticeforMahallatiVictims@gmail.com  Due to COVID travel restrictions, we will stream the event on ZOOM so our supporters can join virtually and support us. https://fullerton.zoom.us/j/81343490252 QUOTES: Lawdan Bazargan (Human Rights Activist) “For the past 43 years the gender-Apartheid regime of Iran has discriminated against women, diminished their value to half of a man, promoted polygamy, excluded women from the leadership and public sphere, and ignored their basic human rights. People like Mahallati are the propaganda machine of this brutal regime and normalize these crimes and hide the true nature of this oppressive regime. Protecting Mahallati and ignoring the families of the victims of Mahallati proves lack of leadership and shameful failure of the administration.” Kaveh Shahrooz (College Professor and Human Rights Lawyer): “The Oberlin administration has refused to conduct a fair and transparent investigation of a man we believe was responsible for hiding crimes against humanity from the world. For that reason, we will continue to demand justice by every legal means possible.” Dr. Farangiss Bayat (Political Theorist and Security Analyst) “The prestigious University of Oberlin should be the promoter of liberal values in the name and manner. The continued employment of notorious figures such as Mahallati mocks the credibility of the Oberlin College and these values. Resisting the expulsion of Mahallati is resistance to the true values that young men and women must learn at this university. Firing Mahallati is protecting our children and our society.” Mariam Memarsadeghi (Senior Fellow, Macdonald-Laurier Institute): “The Islamic Republic is, like the Taliban and ISIS, a state founded on an ideology of women’s inequality. Every day for the last 43 years, Iranian girls and women have endured the legalized humiliations of segregation, control over their dress and movement, exclusion from all manner of opportunities, the lack of basic rights in the family and society, and state-sanctioned violence. Also, during the last 43 years, Iranian girls and women have been abandoned by the West’s feminists. Progressive institutions like Oberlin College protect the abusers of Iranian women’s rights rather than shame them.” Dr. Reza Parchizadeh (Political Theorist and Security Analyst): “Mohammad Jafar Mahallati is just one member of the Islamic Republic’s vast network of influence in American universities, aimed at normalizing the regime’s crimes in the American public mind and gaining concessions from the US government. Negotiations to revive the Defective Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty are underway in Vienna at a sensitive time like now. Therefore, the issue of Mahallati is not only the issue of Iranians who themselves or their family members have fallen victim to this person and his behavior in Iran. The Islamic Republic’s academic influence network is a security threat to the United States, and it must be dealt with accordingly.” Hassan Dai (Researcher and Political Activist): “It is stunning that some former high-ranking Iranian officials are welcomed into the US and recycled as scholars in the most prestigious universities. As diplomats, they had represented a barbaric regime that not only has the most horrific record of human rights violations but has also been considered by consecutive US administrations as the main sponsor of terrorism in the world. Some, like Mahallati, were actively involved in covering up the Iranian regime’s crimes against humanity. Ironically, these former officials present themselves as the new ambassadors for peace between the US and Iran. At the same time, they are field commanders for running the mullahs’ lobby machinery and misinformation campaign in the US.”

Geoffrey Robertson human rights barrister, academic, author, and broadcaster talks about the 1988 Massacre of the Political Prisoners in Iran and the role of people like Mohammad Jafar Mahallati, the Islamic Regime of Iran’s Ambassador to the United Nations played in concealing and denying this crime against humanity