Amnesty International declared in its widely acclaimed 2018 report, which examined Mahalati’s role as the former Iranian regime’s ambassador to the United Nations at the time of the 1988 mass murder, said that he had been “collective in media interviews and exchanges”. were actively involved in denying the killings. United Nations to save those responsible from accountability.”
Amnesty implicated Mahalati in covering up the mass executions of at least 5,000 Iranians.
Leading human rights experts and international jurists have agreed with Amnesty’s findings. Iran’s human rights experts and Amnesty say that despite overwhelming evidence against Mahalati, Oberlin College cleared the professor of charges against him.
Scott Wargo, Director of Media Relations at Oberlin College chronicle-telegram Last week that “Oberlin is deeply sympathetic to the pain and suffering caused by the executions in Iran. After becoming aware of the allegations against Prof. Mahlati, Oberlin began his own process to determine their legitimacy. From multiple sources.” After consulting and evaluating public records, the college found no evidence to substantiate the allegations against Prof. Mahalati, in which he had specific knowledge of the killings in Iran.
Bosworth Hall at Oberlin College(Credit: Wikimedia Commons)
In an opinion article titled “The Butcher of Oberlin” on the news website Washington Examiner, Len Khodorkowski, a former deputy assistant secretary of state and senior adviser to the U.S. Representative for Iran, and Laudon Bazargan, an Iranian-American human rights activist whose sister Bijan was one of the victims of the 1988 massacre, destroyed Oberlin’s investigation. done. Mahalati for its serious shortcomings.
The authors stressed that “no reports of any such investigations have been published” and that the college has not been “transparent”.
She added that “Unfortunately, from the first day of publication of our letter in October 2020, the school simply ignored us, tried to silence the media coverage around this story… and now tells us to No evidence was found as to who conducted the investigation, what methods were used, who they spoke to, and why in this case the family members and the accusers were not contacted for interviews and asked to submit their evidence. Why was the permission not given. We want justice and accountability and we want it now.”
Bazargan is part of a broad-based organization called the Oberlin Committee for Justice for the Victims of Mahalati, which plans to protest in front of the Cox Administration Building on November 2 in protest of his continued employment at the college.
the new York Times It was reported in November 1988 that Galindo Pohl, Iran’s special relation at the time, “accuses Iran of serious human rights violations, including a wave of political executions the previous summer when Iraq gained the upper hand in the war in the Persian Gulf. Was.”
Political executions refer to the massacre of Iranians in the summer of 1988 Times The report is another proof that Mahalati was aware of the massacre and, according to his critics, covered it up.
NS Post Wargo sent press questions to Amber’s Chief of Staff David Hertz and David Kamitsuka, Dean of the Oberlin College of Arts and Sciences. He was asked for a copy of the inquiry report and its sources, as well as whether the college would allow an independent inquiry into the allegations against Mahalati.
NS Post has learned that Kamitsuka has tried too hard to protect Mahalati from devastating charges of crimes against humanity against a former Iranian regime envoy, and has declined to respond to a Post Curiosity.
1 in October 2020. email to Post, Mahalati denied allegations that he aided the regime of Iran in crimes against humanity. Although Post Mahalati has had several times since February to answer questions about his UN speeches opposing the existence of Israel, promoting anti-genocide, encouraging violent jihad against the Jewish state, and defaming the Bahá’í Faith. have arrived to. He has refused to answer.
student newspaper Oberlin Review On Friday it was reported that “the college has not contacted the Bahá’í faculty or students regarding the allegations against Mahallati or the subsequent investigation.”
The paper noted that “Amanda Schmidt, the chair of the Department of Geology, was affiliated with the Office of Religious and Spiritual Life when the allegations were initially made.”
Schmidt responded by saying that “no one in the administration contacted me to follow up or provide support to Bahá’í students on campus. [or] Bahá’í faculty and staff members related to these allegations.”
Mahalati launched a scathing attack against the oppressed Bahá’í community while serving in the United Nations.
Melissa Landa, a graduate of Oberlin and founding director of the Alliance for Israel, said that “Either Oberlin College didn’t do its homework on Mahlati when it hired him or didn’t care about his criminal history. Its internal investigations sought to find out against him.” It would have meant accepting either; it was not going to happen.
“In a complex that specializes in anti-Israeli forms of anti-Semitism, from the silence of its Hillel director and the abandonment of its administration to the relentless attacks of the JVP. [Jewish Voice for Peace] and SFP [Students for a Free Palestine]Oberlin College was never going to object to Mahallati’s praise for violence against innocent Israelis,” she said.
The U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights confirmed in an email to Landa in October that it was evaluating her complaint against Oberlin College, alleging that the college created a hostile environment for Jewish students and Mahalati’s terrorism. And tolerated BDS supporters (boycott, partition). and sanctions campaigns targeting Israel) activities. The college declined to comment on the complaint.
Khodorkowsli and Bjargan also accused Oberlin College and its spokesman Wargo of ignoring the professor’s alleged anti-genocidalism. “Worse, he claimed that Mahalati’s ‘record in Oberlin does not include any instance of the anti-Semitic or anti-Israeli behavior for which he is accused.’ It is like giving passes to war criminals because they had not committed any war crime in hiding recently,” he wrote.
Mahlati, who plays “Professor of Peace” at Oberlin, defended the Islamic Republic’s attacks on American military personnel in 1988. according to a new York Times Article, Iran’s regime attacked an American guided missile cruiser wainwright, resulting in the killings of two American crew members, Captain Stephen C. Leslie of New Bern, North Carolina, and Captain Kenneth W. Hill of Thomasville, North Carolina.
“The US administration has failed miserably, both politically and militarily,” Mahlati said, in relation to a report that Tehran had destroyed three American ships, adding it would “show the lesson to the United States.” Which no one has learned in Vietnam.
Following questions and criticism by critics at Oberlin College for passing Mahalati, the college’s president blocked Xiu Wang, a Chinese-American scholar from Iran, on Twitter.
I was blocked by Oberlin’s president when I tagged her asking why she was blocking people who are questioning Oberlin’s employment of a former Iranian regime official. Do you want to spend $70k to send your kids to schools that just cancel obnoxious inquiries?? pic.twitter.com/ll3TXGooVo— Xiu Wang (@XiyueWang9) October 15, 2021
He tweeted: “I was blocked by the President of Oberlin when I tagged her why she is blocking people who are questioning Oberlin’s employment of a former Iranian regime official. Would you like to know your Want to spend $70k to send kids to schools that just cancel obnoxious inquiries??
The Iranian regime held Wang hostage from 2016 to 2019 on charges of alleged espionage in Iran.
— Len Khodorkovsky (@MessageFromLen) 16 October 2021
Khodorkovsky tweeted that “Oberlin College parents are paying $80,000+ to get their kids educated [antisemitic]Anti-Bahá’í ‘Professors of Peace’ are involved in a genocide. Why is Oberlin President Carmen Amber blocking everyone who draws their attention to this obvious problem?”