REPORT: Protests continue against professor's alleged crimes as Iranian ambassador

Demonstrators gathered at Oberlin College recently to protest Iranian professor Mohammad Jafar Mahallati. 

The protest was an effort by the Alliance Against Islamic Regime of Iran Apologists, Jewish News Syndicates reports. 

Last year, Oberlin College closed an investigation into Mahallati over allegations that he had been involved in covering up the mass murder of political prisoners in Iran in 1988 and comments that he made to the UN in regards to Israel.

Mahallati was Iran’s United Nations ambassador at the time. 

He joined Oberlin in 2007 and is currently a professor of religion and “presidential scholar in Islam.”  

In a speech to the UN in 1989, Mahallati made remarks indicating he believed that Israel belongs to Palestine.

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“The land of Palestine is the platform of the ascension of the Prophet Mohammad; its significance is that it contains the first kiblah direction−towards which Muslims prayed,” he said. “Its occupation by Zionist usurpers is a transgression against all Muslims of the world and its liberation is therefore a great religious obligation and commitment.”

Mahallati also condoned the “first Palestinian intifada.”

“On December 9th, 1987, the heroic uprising of Palestinians began,” he told the U.N.

According to a 2020 letter obtained by Fox News, Mahallati later claimed to be a purveyor of peace. 

“[I] dedicated my life to research, teaching and writing about peace and friendship,” the letter reportedly states. 

The college closed the investigation in October 2021 and announced that they had found no evidence of Mahallati being involved in the mass murders or any evidence of anti-Semitic behavior. 

Mahallati claims that his “personal views” are different from the views he expressed as the ambassador of Iran, citing his books and published works as evidence.

“The official positions I formally took at the United Nations during the time I served do not portray my personal views,” he via the Oberlin website. “My personal views are well portrayed in all my published books, articles, and teachings during the last 30 years since I left the U.N.”

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A fatwa, an Islamic legal ruling or decree, was issued by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini in 1988 that ordered the execution of political prisoners that would not convert to Islam. 

“It is decreed that those who are in prisons throughout the country and remain steadfast in their support for the Monafeqin [Mojahedin], are waging war on God and are condemned to execution.”

This took place during Mahallati’s tenure as United Nations ambassador for Iran from 1987-1989. 

Campus Reform reached out to Scott Wargo, Director of Media relations at Oberlin, and he referred to the fact sheet put out by the school regarding the subject.

Oberlin College closed its investigation into Mahallati in October of 2021 after the school found no evidence of his involvement or knowledge of the massacre. 

“The inquiry did not find proof to corroborate the allegations that Professor Mahallati knew of the atrocities at the time he was asked about them during his tenure at the United Nations,” the sheet said.

The college also stated that the investigation did not find a “pattern of anti-Semitic behavior.”

“The review could not identify a pattern of anti-Semitic behavior or ongoing calls for the destruction of Israel,” it stated.

Campus Reform reached out to Mahallati and was directed to Oberlin’s fact sheet concerning the investigation. 

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