Nobel laureate Shirin Ebadi and two other prominent Iranian dissidents sent a letter to Oberlin College decrying the school’s whitewash of Oberlin professor Mohammad Jafar Mahallati’s alleged crimes against humanity.
According to a 2018 report by Amnesty International, Mahallati helped cover up some of the Iranian regime’s crimes against humanity. Oberlin conducted an internal investigation and essentially accepted Mahallati’s denials at face value. This background is described more fully in LIF’s previous reporting:
- Oberlin College’s ‘Professor of Peace’ Accused By Iranian Opposition of Covering Up Regime Crimes Against Humanity (Update: Prof. Responds)
- Protest At Oberlin College Over Professor Accused Of Helping Cover Up Iranian Mass Executions While U.N. Ambassador
- Oberlin Prof Under Fire For Allegedly Supporting Fatwa Against Salman Rushdie Issues Denial
Families of dead dissidents previously protested Oberlin’s continued employment of Mahallati, to whom the college granted tenure.