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Amir Taheri

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Amir Taheri is an Iranian-born journalist and author based in Europe. His writings focus on the Middle East affairs and topics related to Islamist terrorism. Taheri's public speaking engagements are arranged by Benador Associates, a public relations firm with a predominantly neoconservative clientele.[citation needed] Critics have questioned Taheri's journalistic integrity, alleging that Taheri's writings contain misrepresentations and in several cases known fabrications.[1] Cite error: A <ref> tag is missing the closing </ref> (see the help page). [2]

Career

Taheri's biography at Benador Associates[3] states that he was educated in Tehran, London, and Paris. He was executive editor-in-chief of Kayhan, Iran's main daily newspaper, from 1972 to 1979,[4] and a member of the board of trustees of the Iranian Institute for International Political and Economic Studies in Tehran from 1973 to 1979.[4] Taheri has also been editor-in-chief of Jeune Afrique (1985-1987),[4] Middle East correspondent for the London Sunday Times (1980-1984),[4] and has written for the Pakistan Daily Times, The Daily Telegraph, The Guardian and The Daily Mail. He was a member of the executive board of the International Press Institute from 1984 to 1992.

He has been a columnist for the pan-Arab daily Asharq Al-Awsat and its sister publication Arab News, International Herald Tribune, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, Newsday, and The Washington Post. He has also written for Die Welt, Der Spiegel, Die Zeit and Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung in Germany, La Repubblica in Italy, L'Express, Politique internationale (where he is part of the Consulting Committee) and Le Nouvel Observateur in France, and El Mundo in Spain. He is currently a contributor to the German weekly Focus magazine, the National Review and the New York Post.

Taheri is a commentator for CNN and is frequently interviewed by other media including the BBC and the RFI. He has written several TV documentaries dealing with various issues of the Muslim world. He has interviewed many world leaders including Presidents Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton, King Faisal, Mikhail Gorbachev, President Anwar Sadat, Chou En-lai, Indira Gandhi and Chancellor Helmut Kohl.

Taheri has published several books, some of which have been translated into 20 languages. In 1988 Publishers Weekly in New York chose his study of Islamist terrorism, Holy Terror: Inside the World of Islamic Terrorism, as one of the best books of the year. Another of his books, The Cauldron: The Middle East Behind The Headlines (1988) was used as a textbook in colleges in the United Kingdom and Canada.[citation needed]

Criticisms and Controversies

While critques of Taheri's journalistic integrity are viewed as baseless by some of his supporters, critics have alleged that Taheri's writings contain misrepresentations and, in some cases, outright fabrications. [5]

1988 Nest of Spies book

Shaul Bakhash of George Mason University has accused Amir Taheri of concocting nonexistent substances in his writings, and states that he "repeatedly refers us to books where the information he cites simply does not exist. Often the documents cannot be found in the volumes to which he attributes them.... [He] repeatedly reads things into the documents that are simply not there."[6] Bakhash has stated that Taheri's Nest of Spies is "the sort of book that gives contemporary history a bad name."[6]

2005 Javad Zarif accusations

Dwight Simpson of San Francisco State University and Kaveh Afrasiabi accuse Taheri and his publisher Eleana Benador of fabricating false stories in the New York Post in 2005 where Taheri identified Iran's UN ambassador Javad Zarif as one of the students involved in the 1979 seizure of hostages at the US Embassy in Tehran. Zarif was Simpson's teaching assistant and a graduate student in the Department of International Relations of San Francisco State University at the time.[6]

2006 Iranian sumptuary law

Main article: 2006 Iranian sumptuary law controversy

On May 19, 2006, the National Post of Canada published two pieces, one by Taheri, claiming that the Iranian parliament passed a law that "envisages separate dress codes for religious minorities, Christians, Jews and Zoroastrians, who will have to adopt distinct colour schemes to make them identifiable in public."[7] Iranian sources say Taheri had taken an Iranian Parliament discussion on a dress code law to have Muslims wear garments that showed you were a Muslim, and reported the event as a law being passed requiring Jews to wear badges as under the Nazis. Current Iranian law does require Jews and other religious groups to identify themselves as such if they sell food, but Iran claims badges for Jews and other religious minorities was not actually under discussion nor in the law. Taheri states that his report is correct and that the dress code law has been passed by the Islamic Majlis and will now be submitted to the Council of Guardians. He does not claim badges for Jews are in the law, but does say that special markers for followers of Judaism, Christianity and Zoroastrianism are under discussion as a means to implement the law.[8]

The National Post retracted the story several hours after it was posted online. The newspaper blamed Taheri for the falsehood in the article,[9][10] and published a full apology on May 24.[11] Taheri stood by his reportage.[8]

Partial bibliography

  • 1986. The Spirit of Allah: Khomeini and the Islamic Revolution.[12]
Bethesda: Adler & Adler. ISBN 0-917-56104-X, ISBN 978-0-91756-104-7. ASIN 091756104X.
  • 1987. Holy Terror: Inside the World of Islamic Terrorism.[13]
Bethesda: Adler & Adler. ISBN 0-917-56145-7, ISBN 978-0-91756-145-0. ASIN 0917561457.
  • 1988. The Cauldron: The Middle East Behind the Headlines.
London: Hutchinson. ISBN 0-091-73729-X, ISBN 978-0-09173-729-0. ASIN 009173729X.
  • 1989. Nest of Spies: America's Journey to Disaster in Iran.[14][15]
New York: Pantheon Books. ISBN 0-394-57566-0, ISBN 978-0-39457-566-7. ASIN 0394575660.
  • 1989. Crescent in a Red Sky: The Future of Islam in the Soviet Union.[16]
London: Hutchinson. ISBN 0-091-73463-0, ISBN 978-0-09173-463-3.
  • 1991. The Unknown Life of the Shah.[17]
London: Hutchinson. ISBN 0-091-74860-7, ISBN 978-0-09174-860-9. ASIN 0091748607.

References

  1. ^ http://www.alternet.org/blogs/themix/36610/.
  2. ^ http://www.taylormarsh.com/archives_view.php?id=24099
  3. ^ Eliana Benador. "Amir Taheri". Benador Associates.
  4. ^ a b c d "Profile: Amir Taheri". The Emirates Center for Strategic Studies and Research.
  5. ^ Cite error: The named reference TaylorMarsh was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  6. ^ a b c Larry Cohler-Esses, Bunkum From Benador, The Nation, posted June 14, 2006 (July 3, 2006 issue). Accessed online 21 September 2006.
  7. ^ Amir Taheri (May 19, 2006). "A Colour Code for Iran's 'Infidels'". {{cite news}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help); Check date values in: |date= (help); Unknown parameter |publication= ignored (help) Copy available via Benador Associates.
  8. ^ a b Amir Taheri (May 22, 2006 accessdate=2006-05-22). "Amir Taheri addresses queries about dress code story". {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Missing pipe in: |date= (help); Unknown parameter |publication= ignored (help)
  9. ^ Yossi Melman, Canada's National Post retracts report that Iranian Jews will be forced to wear yellow patches, Ha'aretz, 21 May 2006. Archived on the Internet Archive 3 June 2006.
  10. ^ Chris Wattie, Experts say report of badges for Jews in Iran is untrue, National Post (Canada), May 19, 2006. Accessed online 21 September 2006.
  11. ^ Our mistake: Note to readers, National Post (Canada), September 20, 2006. Accessed online 21 September 2006.
  12. ^ John C. Campbell book review (Spring 1986). "The Spirit of Allah: Khomeini and the Islamic Revolution". Foreign Affairs. Council on Foreign Relations.
  13. ^ John C. Campbell book review (Winter 1987/88). "Holy Terror: Inside the World of Islamic Terrorism". Foreign Affairs. Council on Foreign Relations. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  14. ^ Gaddis Smith book review (Fall 1989). "Nest of Spies: America's Journey to Disaster in Iran". Foreign Affairs. Council on Foreign Relations.
  15. ^ NameBase book review. "Nest of Spies: America's Journey to Disaster in Iran". Public Information Research.
  16. ^ Amazon.com (UK) synopsis. "Crescent in a Red Sky: The Future of Islam in the Soviet Union".
  17. ^ Amazon.com (UK) synopsis. "The Unknown Life of the Shah". Amir Taheri, who for six years was the editor of Iran's main newspaper Kayhan, knew the Shah well and has had access to his private papers. He has interviewed the Shah's closest relatives, including Empress Farah and Princess Ashraf, and many of his ministers, advisers and political opponents. This biography explains not only the secular transformation of Iran but the religious backlash which destroyed the Shah and transformed the world order.
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