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, with a focus on Iran. Taheri's public speaking engagements are arranged by Benador Associates, a public relations firm ^{[1] [2]}. This does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... World map showing the location of Europe. ... A map showing countries commonly considered to be part of the Middle East The Middle East is a region comprising the lands around the southern and eastern parts of the Mediterranean Sea, a territory that extends from the eastern Mediterranean Sea to the Persian Gulf. ... Islamism is a political ideology derived from the conservative religious views of Muslim fundamentalism. ... Terrorist redirects here. ... Benador Associates is a public relations firm and speakers bureau that promotes neoconservative writers and speakers focusing primarily on U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East. ... Public relations (PR): Building sustainable relations with all publics in order to create a postive brand image. ...

Education

Amir Taheri's Benador Associaties biography indicates that he was educated in Tehran, London, and Paris. Futher details are unknown. This article does not cite its references or sources. ... This article is about the capital of England and the United Kingdom. ... City flag City coat of arms Motto: Fluctuat nec mergitur (Latin: Tossed by the waves, she does not sink) Paris Eiffel tower as seen from the esplanade du Trocadéro. ...

Career

Between 1972 and 1979, Taheri was executive editor-in-chief of Kayhan, Iran's main daily newspaper. He has also worked as editor-in-chief of Jeune Afrique and Middle East editor for the London Sunday Times, and has written for the Daily Times, The Daily Telegraph, The Guardian, The Daily Mail and other leading British publications. This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Jeune Afrique is a newsweekly published in Paris, founded by Béchir Ben Yahmed in Tunis on the October 17th 1960. ... The Sunday Times is a Sunday broadsheet newspaper distributed in the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland, published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of News International which is in turn owned by News Corporation. ... The Daily Times is a Pakistani newspaper. ... This article concerns the British newspaper. ... The Guardian is a British newspaper owned by the Guardian Media Group. ... The Daily Mail and its Sunday edition the Mail on Sunday are British newspapers, first published in 1896. ...

He has been a columnist for the pan-Arab daily Asharq Al-Awsat and its sister publication Arab News along with International Herald Tribune, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, Newsday, and The Washington Post. He was also an editorial writer for the German daily Die Welt and has written for Der Spiegel, Die Zeit and Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung in Germany, La Repubblica in Italy, L'Express, Politique Internationale and Le Nouvel Observateur in France, and El Mundo in Spain. He is currently a contributor to the German weekly Focus, the National Review and the New York Post. Asharq Al-Awsat is a major pan-Arab daily newspaper, printed simultaneously on four continents in 12 cities. ... ArabNews is the leading English language source of news presented from an Arab perspective. ... The International Herald Tribune is a widely read English language international newspaper. ... The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) is an influential international daily newspaper published in New York City, New York with a worldwide average daily circulation of more than 2. ... The New York Times is a daily newspaper published in New York City by Arthur Ochs Sulzberger Jr. ... The Los Angeles Times (also L.A. Times) is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California and distributed throughout the Western United States. ... Newsday is a daily tabloid-size newspaper that primarily serves Long Island and the New York City borough of Queens, although it is sold throughout the New York City metropolitan area. ... The Washington Post is the largest newspaper in Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States. ... Die Welt is a German national daily newspaper published by the Axel Springer company. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... DIE ZEIT (pronounced , in English, literally The Time, more idiomatically The Times) is a German nationwide weekly newspaper that is highly respected for its quality journalism. ... Publishing house in Frankfurt am Main The Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ) is an influential high-quality national German newspaper, founded in 1949. ... La Repubblica (meaning: The Republic) is an Italian daily newspaper. ... LExpress is Frances first weekly news magazine. ... Le Nouvel Observateur (often shorten to Le Nouvel Obs) is a weekly French newsmagazine. ... El Mundo can refer to: El Mundo (Spain), Spanish newspaper El Mundo (Puerto Rico), Puerto Rican newspaper El Mundo (Argentine), Argentine newspaper El Mundo (game), four player tables game described in the Alfonso X manuscript This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might... BBC Focus magazine is a monthly magazine which describes itself as the worlds best science and technology monthly. The magazine features articles loosely based around the subject of science and technology. ... National Review (NR) is a biweekly magazine of political opinion, founded by author William F. Buckley Jr. ... The New York Post is the 13th-oldest[] newspaper published in the United States and the oldest to have been published continually as a daily. ...

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. He was also a member of the Board of Trustees of the Institute for International Political and Economic Studies (IIPES) and member of the Executive Board of the International Press Institute (IPI) from 1984 to 1992. The Cable News Network, commonly known as CNN, is a major cable television network founded in 1980 by Ted Turner. ... The British Broadcasting Corporation, usually known as the BBC (and also informally known as the Beeb or Auntie) is the largest broadcasting corporation in the world in terms of audience numbers, employing 26,000 staff in the United Kingdom alone and with a budget of more than GB£4 billion... RFI can mean: Radio Frequency Interference or electromagnetic interference Radio France Internationale Request For Information, a business process Requirement for Improvement, a citation from Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations Return From Interrupt, a PowerPC machine instruction Rete Ferroviaria Italiana Rifle Factory, Ishapore- an arms manufacturing facility located at... Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913 – April 22, 1994) was the 37th President of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. ... Gerald Rudolph Ford, Jr. ... James Earl Jimmy Carter, Jr. ... Ronald Wilson Reagan (February 6, 1911 – June 5, 2004) was the 40th President of the United States (1981 – 1989) and the 33rd Governor of California (1967 – 1975). ... William Jefferson Bill Clinton (born William Jefferson Blythe III[1] on August 19, 1946) was the 42nd President of the United States, serving from 1993 to 2001. ... There were numerous monarchs known as King Faisal, including: King Faisal of Saudi Arabia King Faisal I of Iraq King Faisal II of Iraq This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev (Russian: ), surname more accurately romanized as Gorbachyov; born March 2, 1931) is a Russian politician. ... Muhammad Anwar Al-Sadat (محمد أنورالسادات in Arabic) (December 25, 1918 – October 6, 1981) was an Egyptian politician and served as the third President of Egypt from September 28, 1970 until his assassination on October 6, 1981. ... Zhou Enlai (Simplified Chinese: 周恩来; Traditional Chinese: 周恩來; pinyin: Zhōu Ēnl i; Wade-Giles: Chou En-lai) (March 5, 1898 – January 8, 1976), a prominent Chinese Communist leader, was Premier of the Peoples Republic of China from 1949 until his death. ... This article or section does not cite any references or sources. ... Helmut Josef Michael Kohl (born April 3, 1930) is a German conservative politician and statesman. ... International Press Institute (IPI) is a global organisation dedicated to the promotion and protection of press freedom and the improvement of journalism practices. ...

Writing

Taheri has published nine 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, 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 various colleges in Britain and Canada.^{[citation needed]} He has also won several journalistic prizes.^{[citation needed]} Publishers Weekly is a weekly trade news magazine targeted at publishers, librarians, booksellers, and literary agents. ... NY redirects here. ...

Controversies

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."^[3] Bakhash has stated that Taheri's Nest of Spies is "the sort of book that gives contemporary history a bad name." ^[3] Shaul Bakhash is a reigning doyen of Persian studies at George Mason University where he is Clarence J. Robinson Professor of History. ... George Mason University, also known as GMU or simply Mason, is a large public university in the United States. ...

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." ^[4] 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 to identify themselves as such if they sell food, but Iran claims badges for Jews 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. ^[5] On May 19, 2006, the National Post of Canada published pieces by Amir Taheri and Chris Wattie claiming that the Iranian parliament had passed a sumptuary law mandating a national dress code for all Iranians, Muslim and non-Muslim alike. ... May 19 is the 139th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (140th in leap years). ... For the Manfred Mann album, see 2006 (album). ...

The National Post retracted the story several hours after it was posted online. The newspaper blamed Taheri for the falsehood in the article, ^{[6] [7]} and published a full apology on May 24. ^[8] Taheri stands by his reportage.^[5] May 24 is the 144th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (145th in leap years). ...

Selected Bibliography

• The Cauldron: The Middle East Behind The Headlines
• Nest of Spies: America's Journey to Disaster in Iran
• The Spirit of Allah: Khomeini and the Islamic Revolution
• Holy Terror: Inside the World of Islamic Terrorism
• Crescent in a Red Sky

External links

• Amir Taheri - Benador Associates
• Amir Taheri, And this is why they did it, The Times (UK), 8 July 2005.
• Amir Taheri, Israel must claim victory over Palestine, The Australian, 9 January 2006
• Amir Taheri, Bonfire of the Pieties, Wall Street Journal, 8 February 2006.
• Amir Taheri, The Real Iraq, Commentary, June 2006.
• Shaikh Riyad Nadwi, This is Britain Mr Taheri, even Benador’s spin will not suffice!, Oxford Cross-Cultural Research Institute (OCCRI) 28 July 2005.
• Amir Taheri Is Israel the Problem?, Commentary February 4, 2007

Commentary Magazine is a journal published by the American Jewish Committee, since 1945. ... This does not cite its references or sources. ...

See also

• Fareed Zakaria
• Salim Mansur
• Eric Margolis
• Gwyn Dyer
• Andrew Coyne
• Rex Murphy
• Martin Stringer
• Joe Schlesinger
• List of Canadian political journalists

Fareed Zakaria Fareed Zakaria (born January 20, 1964, Mumbai, India) is a writer and journalist specializing in international relations. ... Salim Mansur, PhD, is a Muslim and is an Associate Professor of Political Science at the University of Western Ontario Canada. ... Eric Margolis is a journalist born in New York City and holding degrees from Georgetown and New York Universities. ... Andrew Coyne, MA , BA is a Canadian journalist and columnist. ... Rex Murphy (born March, 1947, Carbonear, Newfoundland) is a noted Canadian commentator. ... Joe Schlesinger (born 1928) is a Canadian television journalist and author. ...

References

1. ^ [1]
2. ^ [2]
3. ^ ^{a b} Larry Cohler-Esses, Bunkum From Benador, The Nation, posted June 14, 2006 (July 3, 2006 issue). Accessed online 21 September 2006.
4. ^ [3]
5. ^ ^{a b} Amir Taheri. "Press release: Amir Taheri addresses queries about dress code story", May 22, 2006. Retrieved on 2006-05-22. 
6. ^ 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.
7. ^ Chris Wattie, Experts say report of badges for Jews in Iran is untrue, National Post (Canada), May 19, 2006. Accessed online 21 September 2006.
8. ^ Our mistake: Note to readers, National Post (Canada), September 20, 2006. Accessed online 21 September 2006.