IC Journal reported previously that in response to complaints by several journalists and researchers, an investigation by Twitter has found that Kaveh Shahrooz has violated the social media platform’s rules against “abuse and harassment”. The reported social media posts from Shahrooz included vulgar messages and accusations against Negar Mortazavi, an American-Iranian journalist.
According to his public resume, Kaveh Shahrooz is a non-resident senior fellow at the Macdonald Laurier Institute (MLI) and works at the office of the Chief Administrative Officer at the University of Toronto.
MLI’s Reaction
In response to complaints about Shahrooz’s social media behavior against American-Iranian journalist Negar Mortazavi and other women journalists, MLI issued a statement dismissing the concerns about their fellow’s actions and stating: “We stand by our work, our staff, and our fellows …”
MLI is a right-wing Canadian think-tank founded in 2010, backed by conservative groups and networks linked to the oil and gas industry. A recent investigative report by The Guardian claims that MLI and its backers have spent years undermining “Indigenous energy rights in Canada.”
University of Toronto Remains Silent
In reaction to IC Jounral’s previous report, New York Times journalist and current UN Bureau Chief tagged the Twitter account of the University of Toronto, writing that: “Important documentation of how Iranian women, journalists & analysts, are trolled and harassed by this man. An employee of UofT.” Other journalists and researchers targeted by Shahrooz also say that UofT has remained silent and the university administration has not taken any steps regarding the behaviour of their employee.
A community activist who has been targeted by Kaveh Shahrooz’s social media posts tells IC Journal: “I contacted the office of the Chief Administrative Officer at UofT about online harassments and smears by Kaveh Sahhrooz. But they have not taken any action… Kaveh has tried to discredit and undermine my work by falsely calling me a lobbyist for the regime in Iran…This is all because I don’t want military action against Iran or I don’t want people to die from lack of access to medicine due to sanctions.” She spoke to IC Journal under the condition of anonymity fearing that revealing her identity would further expose her to online attacks.
The community activist provided IC Journal a copy of UofT’s anti-harassment policy. Under the section on “Responsibilities of Academic and Non-academic Administrators and Supervisors” governed by the University of Toronto’s Governing Council, all the administrators and supervisors are required to implement University policy on Prohibited Discrimination and Discriminatory Harassment.
Twitter Violation Notice
The violation notice from Twitter says that Kaveh Shahrooz has violated Twitter rules against “abuse and harassment”. Twitter rules against abusive behaviour state that users “may not engage in the targeted harassment of someone, or incite other people to do so.” Twitter considers “abusive behavior an attempt to harass, intimidate, or silence someone else’s voice.” While the notice confirms violation of the rules, it doesn’t specify what steps have been taken by Twitter against Shahrooz.
Despite this finding by Twitter, Kaveh has continued his online attacks accusing Canadian-Iranian and American-Iranian academics and researchers of being lobbyists for the regime in Iran without providing any evidence. The only commonality among the individuals targeted is that they are mostly progressives in their political beliefs and specifically on Iran, they support resolving tensions through diplomacy rather than through military action or coercive economic pressure that have significant and devastating consequences for ordinary people in the country.
Shahrooz Accuses an American Imprisoned in Iran
In one of his recent tweets, Kaveh Shahrooz accuses Siamak Namazi of being the person who established the “Iran lobby.” Siamak Namazi is an American businessman who has been unjustly jailed for the past 7 years of his life in an Iranian prison on trumped-up charges.
Washington Post reported in February 2022 that: “The United Nations ruled that Namazi was not granted a fair trial. He is being held in Iran’s notorious Evin Prison, where family members say his health has deteriorated after spending time in solitary confinement.”
Shahrooz posts the “Iran Lobby” accusation against Namazi despite the fact that a close friend of Siamak, prominent American-Iranian Ahmad Kiarostami published an article in the Huffington Post a month after Siamak’s arrest claiming that an anonymous article published by the Daily Beast in 2015 making similar accusations against Siamak and his family have “contributed to Siamak’s arrest.” Siamak was arrested only weeks after the publication of the anonymous article by Iranian authorities.
In his article, Kiarostami explains in detail that the accusations against Siamak that he was the architect of the “Iran Lobby” in Washington DC are false. An independent media watchdog group, Media Matters also published its analysis about the false information and flaws in the Daily Beast accusations against Namazi that allegedly contributed to his arrest in Iran.
This is not the first time that Shahrooz uses the “Iran Lobby” accusation against victims of the Islamic Republic. In a tweet attacking an article written by Washington Post journalist Jason Rezaian, he uses the label “Iran Lobby” and adds that “He [Rezaian] wasn’t much of a critic of the Iranian regime to begin with. And he seemed to develop even more intense Stockholm Syndrome when he got out.”
Jason Rezaian was appointed as Washington Post’s bureau chief in Tehran in 2012. He was arrested in 2014 and spent 544 days in Tehran’s Evin prison, including in solitary confinement. Rezaian frequently writes about human rights violations in Iran but at the same time he criticized Trump’s Iran policy and the decision to withdraw from the Iran nuclear deal.
Reaction from other organizations
While the university administration at UofT has remained silent on the online actions of their staff, at least one organization that Shahrooz was affiliated with took action in response to complaints against Shahrooz’s online targeting and accusations against journalists and researchers. In October 2020, Kaveh Shahrooz was forced to step down from the board of an American organization called Iran Human Rights Documentation Center (IHRDC) after journalists and researchers criticized the tax-payer funded organization for the online behaviour of its board member.
The decision to oust Kaveh Shahrooz from the board of IHRDC came after American-Iranian journalist Negar Mortazavi published a collection of online attacks initiated by Shahrooz against herself and others and called out the leadership of IHRDC for their silence.
Mortazavi said there is a pattern of regular online attacks using misogynistic language against Iranian-American women and other “women of color” by Mr. Shahrooz. Mortazavi’s tweets encouraged several others who were targeted by Kaveh Shahrooz’s online attacks to speak out against him. Shortly after these public reactions, IHRDC announced that he is no longer a member of their board of directors.
IC Journal has contacted the office of the CAO at the University of Toronto but until the time of publication of this report, we have not received any response.