A political science professor at the University of Arkansas stands accused of praising Iran’s Supreme Leader using the school’s letterhead and attacking Israel, The Post has learned.
Shirin Saeidi, head of the school’s Middle East Studies program, also allegedly supported a convicted Iranian regime war criminal, evidence shows.
Now, lawmakers and a group of Iranian dissidents are demanding administrators at the university further discipline Saeidi, who was removed from her position Friday, according to a spokesman.
Saeidi used the school’s letterhead to appeal for the release of Hamid Nouri, who was convicted by a Swedish court in 2022 of ordering the execution of thousands of political prisoners at Gohardasht Prison in 1988, according to the US-based Alliance Against Islamic Regime of Iran Apologists (AAIRIA), which provided a copy to The Post.
Nouri served as the assistant deputy prosecutor at the Karaj prison, outside of Tehran. He was released in a prisoner swap between Iran and Sweden last year.
In posts shared on X in November Saeidi praised ayatollah Ali Khamenei, offering prayers for his protection and noting that he is “the leader who kept Iran intact during the Israeli attack, May god protect you,” referencing the attack against Israel on Oct. 7, 2023 by Hamas terrorists.
She has called Israel a “terrorist state” and a “genocidal state” on X. Saeidi did not respond to a request for comment from The Post.
On Friday, Mike Huckabee, the US ambassador to Israel, denounced Saeidi’s “hate-filled antisemitic venom” in an email to The Post.
“Whether Shirin Saeidi should be fired is a decision for the administration and the UA board. But praising the Iranian leader — who calls not only for the slaughter of Jews but also calls for the destruction of America — makes me think this deranged professor would probably be better suited to being given a one-way ticket to Tehran and taking a job of teaching in their hate-infested schools,” he said.
A spokesman for the university told The Post Friday Saeidi is no longer at the Middle East Studies department and the school is investigating her apparent use of the letterhead “in accordance with university policies.”
Before then, AAIRIA activists collected 3,782 signatures on a Change.org petition, urging the university to take action.
“For forty-six years, Iranians have resisted this erasure of their memories, their testimonies, and their courage,” said Lawdan Bazargan, a former political prisoner in Iran and a human rights activist.
“That is why the regime relies on ideologues and useful idiots in Western institutions to launder its image.
“Dr. Saeidi’s work is part of that machinery, an academic façade built on falsified narratives to soften the truth about Iran’s prisons and the resistance that takes place inside them.”
Bazargan told The Post the FBI had contacted her in May regarding allegations against Saeidi, which made her and the AAIRIA look into her more closely.
Republican Arkansas State Rep. Mary Bentley told The Post that she was “deeply disturbed” by the allegations against Saeidi.
“I can assure you that my constituents do not want their tax dollars being used to support unethical and antisemitic behavior from professors at our public universities,” she said.
Masih Alinejad, an Iranian dissident based in Brooklyn, who was a target of the regime in 2021, called on President Trump to stop the “infiltration” of Iranian regime apologists.
“She regularly attacks me and other human rights activists who dare to stand up to the same dictator,” said Alinejad in a post on X, referring to Saeidi.
Saeidi also endorsement two petitions in 2023 and 2025 against Israel, according to the AAIRA.
“You can’t get any more antisemitic that,” said Rabbi Abraham Cooper, the associate dean of the Los Angeles-based Simon Wiesenthal Center. Only a week after the horrors on Oct 7, Saeidi chose to whitewash the terrorist crimes of Hamas.”
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