. . . dropped
Yale University has fired an Iranian researcher three weeks after putting her on administrative leave, saying she had refused to answer Yale’s questions about her links to a group the US lists as a terrorist organization.
Iranian-born Helyeh Doutaghi, 30, had only a temporary position with Yale. Her contract was due to expire in April when she was fired March 28.
She was put on leave after a Jewish publication linked her to Samidoun Network, a Canada based group the US says is a “sham charity” that raises funds for the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), a group that is not very active now but was infamous for its terrorist activities a half-century ago.
Yale spokesperson Alden Ferro said, “Over the last three weeks, Yale has repeatedly requested to meet with Ms. Doutaghi and her attorney to obtain clarifying information and resolve this matter. Unfortunately, she has refused to meet to provide any responses to critical questions, including whether she has ever engaged in prohibited activity with organizations or individuals that were placed on the [US government’s] Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons list.”
only full-blooded Iranian-American in the US
Congress, has held two town hall events for
constituents in her Phoenix area district in Arizona.
The Democrat (standing at left) enjoyed poking fun
at Republicans who have canceled such town hall
events because they have been subject to verbal
attacks from people furious at what President
Trump has been doing. Ansari was elected last
November. She frequently points out that she is
Iranian and her parents fled after the revolution.
Therefore, Ferro said, she was fired for “refusal to cooperate.”
Shortly after being placed on leave early in March, Doutaghi wrote on X that she was “afforded no due process and no reasonable time to consult” with her attorney…. I was given only a few hours’ notice by the administration to attend an interrogation based on far-right AI-generated allegations against me, while enduring a flood of online harassment, death threats, and abuse by Zionist trolls, exacerbating ongoing unprecedented distress and complications both at work and at home.”
An earlier story detailing the charges appeared in the last issue of the Iran Times on Page Four.