A self-styled ‘professor of peace’ who brushed off allegations of anti-Semitism and crimes against humanity has finally been suspended by his ultra-liberal college over a sex-for-grades scandal.
Mohammad Mahallati helped spark a Department of Education probe into anti-Semitism at Oberon College in Ohio last month amid claims he harassed Jewish students and defended Hamas in lectures.
The tenured professor of religion served as Iran‘s ambassador to the United Nations in the late 1980s and was accused of covering up the regime’s massacre of 5,000 jailed opponents in 1988.
But the progressive college only moved against him when it emerged that he sexually harassed a student at Columbia University in the 1990s.
‘It’s disheartening that it took Oberlin College three years to take this crucial step,’ said Lawdan Bazargan, whose brother Bijan was among those murdered in 1988.
‘We call upon Oberlin College to not only take these actions but also to meet with the family members of the victims to hear their voices and experiences.’
The DOE’s Office of Civil Rights began its investigation after former Oberon student Melissa Landa sent the department a dossier of allegations of anti-Jewish and anti-Israel incidents on campus.
‘Before Professor Mahallati deleted his students’ blogs, I read them along with other alumni, and saw that they reflected his violent anti-Semitic teachings,’ she told Fox News.
‘Through his lectures and his readings, Mahallati taught his students that Israel is an apartheid, settler-colonial regime and that Hamas is a benevolent organization that represents the will of the Palestinian people.’
The professor was one of Tehran’s most high-profile figures during one of its most murderous phases and defended its 1989 fatwa which called for the death of author Salman Rushdie over his ‘blasphemous’ novel The Satanic Verses.
‘I think all Islamic countries agree with Iran,’ he told reporters.
‘All Islamic nations and countries agree with Iran that any blasphemous statement against sacred figures should be condemned.’
Earlier this year the human rights organization Amnesty International accused him of crimes against humanity for misleading the world over the 1988 massacres.
He claimed the prisoners were killed on the ‘battlefield’ during the country’s war with Iraq and blamed ‘fake information from a terrorist organization in Iraq’.
With a PhD in Islamic studies he got a job at Columbia University but was sued by a 32-year-old graduate student in 1997 who accused him of sustained sexual harassment.
The Palestinian Christian woman claimed he promised good grades in exchange for sexual encounters and threatened to withhold her grade if she did not keep silent.
He ‘attempted to retaliate against her’ when she broke off the relationship, ‘defamed’ her and ‘caused her significant emotional distress’, court documents state.
He tried to claim diplomatic immunity against the claim but the court awarded her a settlement and compensation in 1998.
The scandal did not stop him moving to jobs at Yale, Princeton and Georgetown, and by 2007 he has been appointed Chair in Middle East and North African Studies at Oberon where he recast himself as an advocate for peace and an expert in conflict resolution.
The college has been among those accused of fostering an atmosphere of anti-Semitism and was forced to fire professor Joy Karega in 2016 over a series of Facebook posts blaming Israel and Jews for 9/11.
It was also forced to pay $36.5 million to a local bakery last year which it defamed as racist, after the storeowner chased down three black students who stole from the business in November 2016.
College spokeswoman Andrea Simakis has now revealed that Mahalatti was placed on ‘indefinite administrative leave’ at the end of last month.
‘We learned of the lawsuit filed in the Southern District of New York against Mahallati from a media inquiry sent to us December 5,’ she said.
‘We would not hire a faculty member whom we knew had a history of sexual assault, harassment, or abuse of anyone, including a student, colleague, or staff member.
‘We will not tolerate sexual offenses at Oberlin. We take all reports of sexual assault, harassment and abuse extremely seriously.’
Fatemeh Pishdadian whose parents were tortured and executed by Iran’s regime in 1981 welcomed the action.
‘This development, however, should not be mistaken for swift or decisive action by Oberlin College,’ she said.
‘It reflects a belated response to pressing demands for truth and justice which continued for years, echoing our call that those who shield the actions of oppressive regimes have no rightful place in our academic institutions.’
