Daioleslam’s Speech at Libel Lawfare Conference

Ladies and gentlemen,

It is an honor for me to be with you today. I am grateful to the Legal Project at the Middle East Forum and to the other sponsors for this opportunity.

For the past several years, I have been investigating the Iranian Regime’s lobby in the US.  My reports have been largely published by major Farsi websites and some US journals. I have appeared in many radio and TV broadcasts aired to Iran, including Voice of America. Because of writing on this issue, smear attacks and legal scare tactics have been directed against me.  This has restricted my freedom of speech, has affected my safety, the safety of my family here in the US and also my family in Iran.

Allow me to tell you, why and how I became interested in studying the Iranian regime’s web of influence in the U.S.  For almost a decade, we watched then Congressman Bob Ney fighting passionately to ease sanctions and policy against Tehran.  In 2005, when Jack Abramof and Bob Ney’s corruption scandal became public, I and many other Iranians had a very simple question:  Why would a person that so readily makes his services available to the highest bidder, so passionately care for the Iranian rulers?

During these times, Bob Ney had a young Iranian foreign policy advisor in his office.   So, why would a lawmaker with no official role in the foreign policy have a foreign policy advisor on Iran?

This advisor was Mr. Trita Parsi, a young Iranian from Sweden who according to his own declaration, led a “lobbying organization”  aimed at “influencing elected representatives” in the US whose primary focus was to remove the sanctions against Iran.

Mr. Parsi is the president of the National Iranian American Council (known as NIAC), which is the most active Iranian organization inside the US Congress.

In April 2007, I published the result of my investigation in an article titled “Iran’s Oil Mafia, penetrating the US political system” detailing how Mr. Parsi and his organization were supported, praised and trusted by the Iranian regime.

The first reaction to my article came from the governmental press in Tehran.  Six newspapers and websites close to the regime defended NIAC and attacked my reputation and accused me of being an agent of the New Conservatives, AIPAC and Israel. The ultra radical Ghods newspaper wrote: The Neocons attack the Iranian lobby in the US.

Then, Mr. Parsi and his colleagues in NIAC publically accused me of being a terrorist and warmonger.

A few weeks later, the Voice of America’s Persian Service took interest, and sought to organize a face-to-face debate between Mr. Parsi and me. I accepted the invitation, he did not show up.

After the broadcast, NIAC’s lawyer sent a hostile and threatening letter to VOA demanding a halt to broadcasting programs about NIAC. The VOA gave in. This is an example of the chilling effect that these threats have on the media. Once this intimidation campaign paid off, NIAC boasted on its website that it had “Made Progress in Defamation Case with VOA.”

NIAC in presenting their own lawyer’s letter as if it were legal action had a similar impact on many other media that had published articles on NIAC written by myself and others.  Fearing the risk of a law suit that would bankrupt them, these media chose to stay away from the subject of the Iranian lobby altogether. This was exactly what NIAC had intended.

For example, Thomas Lifson, the editor of the online magazine “American Thinker” declined to publish my article and wrote to me:

“I received news of the legal action against Voice of America just prior to publication of your article.  Because our website has no financial resources (we are still in debt), I cannot afford to risk a legal action, which would simply destroy us. I wish that I had the resources to fight them. But I had to not publish your article. I am very sorry.”

During these times, my main encouragement was the support I received from the Iranian community that opposes the Iranian regime’s advocates and lobbyists. Consequently, more and more people have come forward to raise questions and voice their concerns. I was not the first to talk about this issue and there are actually thousands who continue to talk about it.

NIAC’s final response was to bring a lawsuit against me, which also intends to silence other like-minded critics.

I was not about to choose silence.  I hired a lawyer and started to fight back.  After a short time, my personal resources were gone and I realized that such an endeavor could not be sustained by me alone. I asked for help. The Legal Project at the Middle East Forum, and the firm of Sidley Austin, rose up to the challenge and graciously extended a supporting hand.  With their assistance, I have been able to stand up to their bullying, continue to exercise my first amendment right, and fulfill my duty to expose the truth.

In closing, I thank the organizers of this briefing, and I express my deepest gratitude to the legal project at the Middle East Forum which has had the courage and the wisdom to recognize the threat of the Tehran’s influence on American national security.

Thank you