Conference Call Briefing with Author Hassan Daioleslam and Sam Nunberg
[Lawfare Project Conference Call on Legal Project's victory over the National Iranian American Council]

The Lawfare Project
April 30, 2013

https://www.legal-project.org/4063/conference-call-briefing-with-author-hassan

Conference call briefing with Iranian American author Hassan Daioleslam, Lawfare Project Director Brooke Goldstein, and Legal Project Director Sam Nunberg on Daioleslam's recent victory against National Iranian American Council (NIAC).

Background:

On Tuesday, April 9, in a major victory against lawfare proponents, the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia ordered the National Iranian American Council (NIAC) and its president, Trita Parsi, to pay $183,480.09 to Iranian American Hassan Daioleslam, editor of the website "In Search of Truth: Reports on Mullahs's lobby in US." This follows years of litigation, beginning in 2008 when NIAC and Parsi filed a frivolous libel suit against Daioleslam in response to his reporting of Parsi's and NIAC's linkages with the Iranian regime, a state sponsor of terrorism.

In fall 2012, the court granted summary judgment for Daioleslam, dismissing the libel suit. Judge John Bates held that the plaintiffs failed to adduce evidence that Daioleslam "actually harbored any doubts about the correctness of his writings, or willfully blinded himself to the truth," such that their defamation claim must fail. The court also dismissed the plaintiffs' false light claim due to their failure to demonstrate that Daioleslam's statements were made with "actual malice."

Sam Nunberg serves as Director of The Legal Project, an activity of the Middle East Forum which seeks to protect the right in the West to freely discuss Islam and Islamist terrorism. The Legal Project coordinated Mr. Daioleslam's pro bono representation by Sidley Austin LLP during Brooke Goldstein's tenure as Director. Sam has worked on this matter since 2011.

Resources And Further Reading Material

Court Documents

September 2011 - Daioleslam's Omnibus Motion for Sanctions

September 2012 - Opinion of the D.C. Circuit Court Granting Summary Judgment for Hassan Daioleslam

April 2013 - Court Order Granting Sanction Judgment for Hassan Daioleslam

Articles

Lawfare against free speech in the United States

Predatory Lawsuit Rebounds Back on Iranian Front Group

Sanctioning Iran's American Allies - NIAC ordered to pay nearly $200K in legal fees

Articles by Hassan Dai

Iranian Lobby - (Hassan's Website)

Twelve years of pro-Tehran lobby 

NIAC Factbook

[Audio of the conference call can be listened to at the the following link: http://www.thelawfareproject.org/component/option%2ccom_eventlist/Itemid%2c75/id%2c28/view%2cdetails/]

receive the latest by email: subscribe to the legal project's free mailing list