Journalist who was jailed in Iran targeted by U.S.-funded Twitter account

Transcript

A U.S. government funded organization has accused an American reporter who spent 544 days in an Iranian prison for his journalism of being a mouthpiece for the regime.

The Iran Disinformation Project has come under fire for targeting journalists, analysts, and human rights organizations on Twitter who have been critical of U.S. policies such as the travel ban on Muslim-majority countries and sanctions against Iran. 

The U.S. State Department on Friday said it has suspended funding for the organization "until the implementer takes necessary steps to ensure that any future activity remains within the agreed scope of work." Many of the tweets have since been deleted. 

The Washington Post's Jason Rezaian was among those in @IranDisinfo's crosshairs. He wrote a column about the experience called "The State Department Has Been Funding Trolls. I'm One of Their Targets."

Here is part of his conversation with As It Happens host Carol Off. 

Jason, first of all, what exactly is the Iran Disinformation Project?

It purports to be a State Department funded initiative that's designed to combat Iranian disinformation campaigns by the Islamic Republic and its proxies, whether by social media or state propaganda. But it's turned into something very different, apparently.

What did they say about you in those tweets?

They've scrubbed many of them, but essentially they claim that I'm a mouthpiece or a lobbyist for the Islamic Republic here in Washington, which on its face is obviously pretty ridiculous.

I spent a year and a half in prison in Iran at the hands of the Islamic Republic. I have an open case against Iran in U.S. federal court for their treatment or mistreatment of me. And I write regularly about the abuses of that regime against the people of that country.

I think that the beef that this particular Twitter account, and those who would intend to amplify it, is that I fall into a camp of people that believe that war with Iran and that massive maximum economic pressure in the form of sanctions against the country's entire economy that have a crippling effect on the people of that country is not the answer.

But you and the others seem to share the view that Iran should be secular and democratic. Is that not also the position of the State Department?

I want to draw a distinction here because I think it's still a bit unclear how much the State Department knew about what this particular grantee was doing with the funding that they received from the U.S. government. I think it still needs to be played out in a more public arena so that we have very clear answers about what the State Department did and did not know about their activities.

But, ultimately, I think the vast majority of people who comment on Iran, especially from outside of Iran's borders, realize that, you know, a 40-year-old theocracy that does not respect equality in terms of gender, religion, race is not something that has a bright future in this world.

So let's just clarify the relationship between the Iran Disinformation Campaign and the State Department. It is funded by the State Department, yes?

It is funded by what's called the Global Engagement Center, something that was started towards the end of the Obama administration designed specifically to combat disinformation campaigns from foreign sources, including most specifically Russia, but also China and Iran.

But what is unclear is what process the people who receive these funds went through and if there's any oversight or co-ordination at all with the State Department on this sort of messaging that they're doing. And my sources in the State Department have said off the record that they were caught a little bit off guard by this whole debacle.

So I think it'll become more clear in the days to come. If the State Department doesn't want to take a transparent line on this, I and others will call for some congressional oversight.

But they are. They have suspended funding to this particular outfit.

They have stated that they have suspended funding temporarily until the account can prove that they will maintain the agreed upon scope of work.

What that means is entirely unclear, and as somebody who's been targeted by this account, I don't think that that's necessarily enough. I mean, defunding, yes. That's the first step. But also, you know, a transparent accounting of who these folks are, why they got the money in the first place and how it's being spent needs to be made in a very public space.

You spent 544 days in jail in Iran. You were in solitary. You were threatened routinely with execution. This is when you had been the Tehran bureau chief for the Washington Post. And finally, after a great deal of negotiating, released. Doesn't that give you some credentials? I mean, to be charged with somehow being a mouthpiece for Iran when you take a moderate position on how Iran should be treated. Shouldn't that account for something?

There's a very small cadre of what we call regime changers, or those who are supporting the most maximalist attacks on the Iranian regime, who see me as as somehow complicit with that regime. I don't think their arguments hold any water and I don't think very many people would agree with them.

But as I've said many times, they have the right to criticize me. They have the right to question my credentials. They have the right to attack my positions. What they don't have the right to do is to label me with slanderous terms that have a detrimental effect on my public reputation if I can prove that those things are false.

What effect is this having on you to be targeted by a project in your own country, State Department funded, after everything you went through in that Evin Prison?

To be honest with you Carol, it's not keeping me up at night. It does upset me. It bothers me. But, ultimately, I've been through a lot worse, and the fact that we can have an open discussion and dialogue about this and that there is accountability and protection in our U.S. Constitution makes me feel a bit more comfortable.

But let's see how it plays out in the days to come. If there aren't consequences, I'll feel a lot worse about it than I do right now.

Written by Sheena Goodyear. Produced by Donya Ziaee. Q&A has been edited and condensed.