During a Middle East Policy Council held on Jan. 18. 2008, Trita Parsi, the head of the National Iranian American Council (NIAC) was asked: “Why NIAC never takes any meaningful stand against Human Rights Violations in Iran?” His answer was: “NIAC is not a Human Rights organization. That’s not our expertise.” Truer words have not been spoken by Mr. Parsi in a long time. But it was then. It appears now that in less than two years, NIAC has reinvented itself as a human rights organization and its leader, Trita Parsi, has become a human rights activist overnight. These days, on NIAC website we read: “NIAC advocates open, constructive, and unrestricted dialogue among all people and institutions that care about improving human rights in Iran and elsewhere. Through its programs, NIAC encourages discussion and debate on how best to advance human rights in Iran.” And again in an interview he declares: “We want human rights in Iran to be respected [1].” Maybe campaigning for human rights is where the funding goes these days? Just a wild guess!

With a membership tally of about 3000, NIAC claims to be a uniting force for hundreds of thousands of Iranians who live in the US. In reality however this organization has done more to divide than to unite. As a participant in the Washington DC July 25 rally in support of the people movement in Iran, I witnessed the uncivilized behavior of the event organizers (all NIAC people) in confrontation with a peaceful group of flag carrying compatriots. Although I participated without carrying any banners or signs, it is beyond my comprehension how the event organizers could find this flag so offensive, so much so as if Swastikas were being carried around. As a matter of fact, an event associate likened the divide between the flag carrying crowd and the rest to the difference between Nazi sympathizers and anti-Nazi demonstrators [2]. An organization that claims to be “advocating dialogue among all people” is apparently incapable of having a dialogue with a peaceful group of Iranians who hold a flag that has deep historical, even Islamic roots. Thanks to the Internet and websites like Youtube, the intolerance of NIAC affiliates during this rally is well documented.

NIAC routinely uses offensive language against people they disagree with. This can hardly serve unity, human rights, or any other noble cause NIAC might be operating under these days. In his recent interview with Zamaneh, Parsi slandered everyone who disagrees with NIAC, as warmongers and neo-cons [3]. NIAC claims on its website: “The campaign against NIAC is coordinated by far-right neo-conservatives and figures associated with the Iranian terrorist organization the Mujahedin-e Khalq.” NIAC dares to call those disagreeing with its pro-regime stance every name but when it gets the scrutiny it deserves its leader and followers start yelling and kicking and suing.

The goals and the agenda of NIAC is not of much concern to me as long as they are honestly articulated, even if those goals include lobbying for the Islamic regime or Iranian-American businesses who would like to see the sanctions against IRI lifted. I just find it charlatanism plain and simple for an organization to hide its true intention behind the cause of “human rights” in Iran or “solidarity with the Iranian people” while turning a blind eye to worst cases of human rights violation that happened during the first decade of IRI’s foundation, even going as far as blaming the victim for those atrocities. When an organization behaves this way, everyone has not only the right but even the duty to call them out on their deception.