As of 2022, Helyeh Doutaghi, a YLS research scholar, is allegedly a member of the Samidoun Network, designated as a terrorist organization by Canada and a “sham charity” by the US Treasury Department. In August 2024, she was also interviewed by Iranian state-owned media in her official capacity as a “legal scholar” at “Yale University.”
Owen Tilman
Editor-in-Chief, The Buckley Beacon
Helyeh Doutaghi, an Associate Research Scholar at Yale Law School, is allegedly a member of the Canada-based Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network, or Samidoun.
Samidoun is designated as a terrorist organization by the Canadian government and a “sham charity” for the Gaza-based Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, or PFLP, which is designated as a terrorist organization by the United States.
She has also appeared in the Iranian state-owned media channel, Press TV, in her official capacity as a “legal scholar” at “Yale University,” and appeared on a webinar with a high-profile Iranian politician, where she was allegedly presented as a “professor at Yale University.”
This information was first reported in the “Jewish Onliner” on March 2, a Substack publication, and verified through an independent review by The Buckley Beacon.
At Yale Law School, Doutaghi has been an Associate Research Scholar and Deputy Director of the Law and Political Economy Project since September 2023. Her research encompasses, according to her YLS page, “Marxian and postcolonial critiques of law, sanctions, and international political economy.” Doutaghi received an LL.M. from King’s College London.
Per the “Jewish Onliner” article, Doutaghi has been active on Iranian state-owned television, and has made direct contact with members of the Iranian government on various internet webinars. In August 2024, Doutaghi was interviewed by Press TV, a state-owned media organization based in Tehran, where she deplored “US imperialism” in her capacity as a “legal scholar” at “Yale University.” Press TV is currently sanctioned by the US government.
The photo of Doutaghi on the Press TV archive matches that of her LinkedIn, a profile which confirms her employment with Yale University.
A few months prior to her appearance on Press TV, she also appeared on an internet webinar with Saeed Jalili, the former secretary of Ayatollah Khomenei’s Supreme National Security Council, where she was allegedly presented as a “professor at Yale University.”
Doutaghi did not respond to The Beacon’s request for comment. The Beacon has also reached out to Yale Law School, and is currently awaiting an official response.