November 12, 2011
Saghi M. Agha Khan
Interim Executive Director
Public Affairs Alliance of Iranian Americans (PAAIA)
1614 20th Street, NW
Washington, DC 20009
re: The Huffington Post’s Inaccurate Article and NIAC’s Campaign to Intimidate Iranian-Americans
Dear Ms. Saghi Agha Khan and Board of Directors of PAAIA,
I have read PAAIA’s prospectus that the organization is involved in issues such as discrimination /civil rights (e.g., responding to complaints of harassment, anti-defamation, negative media stereotyping and PAAIA condemnation) “all acts of violence that result in the loss of civilian life and all acts of intimidation, coercion and violence that are intended to instill fear in the population at large…”
Dear PAAIA, I am Arash Irandoost, founder of Pro-Democracy Movement of Iran (PDMI), an independent non-partisan political and human rights activist working towards establishing a secular democracy in our homeland, Iran, using the alias name for security reasons. On August 31, 2011, Mr. Shawn Amoie, National Iranian American Council’s (NIAC) Ambassador, wrote an article which was titled “Silencing the Moderate Middle” published in the Huffington Post, where he falsely, inaccurately and maliciously slandered me as a member of the MEK organization, an organization that is currently on the United State’s Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) list.
This is a serious, defamatory charge; a modus operandi of the National Iranian American Council (NIAC), its President Trita Parsi and his associates who in the past intentionally have engaged in unprofessional conduct aiming to intimidate and silence, Iranian-American activists and opposition groups. Mr. Amoie did not provide any evidence for his claim in the article, leading me to believe that the Huffington Post did not conduct a thorough examination before it published the slanderous and inaccurate article.
For the record, I have never been affiliated with said organization during my thirty plus years of residency and citizenship in the United States, nor prior to the revolution of 1978 when MEK was active inside Iran.
I have made several attempts since the publication of this article to correct the inaccuracies and falsehoods of the published material, but to no avail.
I urge PAAIA to check into this matter. I respectfully request PAAIA to ask that the Huffington Post conduct a comprehensive inquiry about the veracity of my claim and demand that they publish an apology /correction letter and also take appropriate measures to ensure that it does not serve as a platform to defame and slander other Iranian-Americans and intimidate them into silence, in the future.
If proven that NIAC and its President maliciously attempted to slander me, I ask that PAAIA condemn NIAC and its President Trita Parsi for engaging in such lowly and unprofessional conduct.
Thanking you in advance, I remain.
Sincerely,
Arash Irandoost, Ph.D.
cc:
Pouria Abbassi – General Manager and CEO of the Los Angeles Convention Center (LACC)
Mina Amir-Mokri – Partner, Wildman, Harrold, Allen & Dixon LLP
Mary Bavafa – Education Consultant, Former Community Relations Specialist Marymount College
Hamid Biglari – Vice-Chairman, Citicorp|Citigroup
Ali Ebrahimi – Chairman and CEO, Ersa Grae
Nazie Eftekhari – Founder, Chair and Chief Executive Officer of HealthEZ, Inc.
Majid Fateh – Founder and Medical Director of the New York Fertility Institute
Tamilla Ghodsi – Managing Director, Goldman Sachs & Co.
Forough Hosseini – (Vice Chairman of the Board) – Senior Vice President of Information Systems, ICI Homes
Yousef Javadi – CEO, President and Co-Founder of LiveTimeNet Inc.
Mariam Khosravani – Executive Director, Coastline Community College Foundation
Akbar A. Lari – President,The Claremont Group
Mohsen Moazami – Corporate Vice-President of the Internet Business Solutions Group, Cisco Systems Inc.
Ali Mojdehi (Chairman of the Board) – Partner, Baker & McKenzie LLP
Firouz Naderi – Director for Solar System Exploration at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL)
Francis Najafi – Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Pivotal Group
Sanam Quraishi – Founder and CEO of SVQF, Member of the Clinton Global Initiative
Nariman Teymourian – Chairman and CEO, Gale Technologies, Inc.
