Yale University Law School terminated the employment of a scholar over her refusal to cooperate with an investigation into her alleged ties to a terrorist entity, according to a Friday statement from the school.
Associate research scholar Helyeh Doutaghi had been suspended in early March after an AI news site Jewish Onliner exposed her connections to the Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network, which the US treasury sanctioned in October as a "sham charity" fundraising for the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP).
The school said that it does not take administrative action based on press reports nor over protected speech, but Yale's review of the material, including a Samidoun text identifying Doutaghi as a member, drove the belief that further investigation was warranted. As part of university protocol, Doutaghi was placed on administrative leave.
Yale claimed that for three weeks, it had requested to meet with Doutaghi and her attorney to obtain clarity on the matter, but she allegedly refused to answer "critical questions."
Doutaghi's employment with Yale was set to expire in April but was instead terminated immediately.
In a March 12 statement posted to X, Doutaghi dismissed the claims against her as fabricated AI-generated allegations. She accused Yale of accepting the allegations at face value without first investigating the source. The actions against her were part of a crackdown on pro-Palestinian campus speech in the US.
Doutaghi's allegation
Doutaghi alleged that she was not afforded due process or reasonable time to consult with her attorney before being placed on leave, having her electronic access revoked, and being restricted from accessing the campus. The Iranian woman lambasted the interview process for retaining a lawyer who offers services related to Israel and aerospace and defense companies. Doutaghi charged that these details, as well as having been previously appointed as a US State Department special compliance officer, indicated that "his career is deeply embedded in the very industries that sustain genocide and war crimes in Palestine."
Doutaghi said that YLS had dismissed her concerns about retaining such a counsel when she is public about her pro-Palestinian positions. She alleged that the attorney had refused to answer questions about procedural protections and denied religious accommodation for her Ramadan fast.
The Iranian scholar also claimed that she had suffered online harassment, death threats, and abuse due to the AI news site's article.
"YLS's singular concern was to maintain the approval of the Zionist backers who bankroll their complicity in genocide, which led the organization to pressure me into an interrogation that I had every reason to believe was designed not to uncover the truth, but to justify a predetermined outcome," said Doutaghi.
"What is clear is that YLS actions constitute a blatant act of retaliation against Palestinian solidarity- a violation of my constitutional rights, free speech, academic freedom, and fundamental due process rights. I am being targeted for one reason alone: For speaking the truth about the genocide of the Palestinian people that Yale University is complicit in."
While Doutaghi asserted that the claims against her were AI-generated, a 2022 Samidoun article described her as a "member of the international Samidoun Network."
According to Samidoun's website, Doutaghi had given a speech prior to the Samidoun Iran screening of “Fedayin: Georges Abdallah’s Fight” in a Tehran art gallery. Abdallah, a PFLP-affiliated Lebanese militant, was imprisoned in France for terrorist attacks.
The film featured interviews with the coordinator of Samidoun Europe. It alleged PFLP operative Mohammed Khatib, PFLP leader and Masar Badil Palestinian Alternative Revolutionary Path Movement founder Khaled Barakat, and Barakat's wife and Samidoun international coordinator Charlotte Kates.
The same year, Samidoun said that Doutaghi served as a webinar moderator for the International People’s Tribunal on US Imperialism. The tribunal was co-sponsored by PFLP-affiliated groups, including Samidoun, Masar Badil, and Al-Awda: The Palestine Right to Return Coalition- to which Kates was at once listed as a national board member. Kates was also listed as a steering committee member for the tribunal in a 2023 Samidoun article.
Doutaghi joined Kates and others on a 2023 "fact-finding mission" about US sanctions on different states.
In October, Doutaghi organized and was featured on a panel alongside Barakat, who was sanctioned late that month alongside Samidoun for his affiliation to the group and the PFLP. Samidoun and Masar Badil sponsored the event.
Samidoun was sanctioned by the US and listed by Canada as a terrorist entity in a joint October 2024 action. Samidoun was banned in Germany in November of that year.
“Organizations like Samidoun masquerade as charitable actors that claim to provide humanitarian support to those in need, yet in reality divert funds for much-needed assistance to support terrorist groups,” Treasury Department Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Acting Under Secretary Bradley Smith said in a statement at the time.
“The United States, together with Canada and our like-minded partners, will continue to disrupt those who seek to finance the PFLP, Hamas, and other terrorist organizations.”
PFLP, the group allegedly behind Samidoun, has participated in the hostilities of the October 7 War and has been a US State Department-designated foreign terrorist organization since 1997.
