An Iranian-American student at the University of Michigan who publicly challenged US Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed to condemn Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said that he has faced a wave of online threats, doxxing, and harassment.
Iman Dashti, a student at the university, posted a video on Instagram on Sunday detailing the backlash he received following an exchange at a town hall event last week.
During the public forum, Dashti confronted El-Sayed by detailing his family’s experiences under the Iranian regime, noting that his cousin had been pursued in the streets by the IRGC and that his uncle had been sentenced to death and given 50 lashes.
Dashti pressed the candidate on whether he stood unequivocally against the IRGC and the Islamic Republic of Iran, pointing to past controversy surrounding El-Sayed’s remarks on the death of former Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
El-Sayed responded by criticizing American foreign policy and warning against US-led regime change operations abroad, stating that democratic reforms must come from the people of Iran rather than military intervention.
Dashti accused of being ‘zionist plant’
In his Instagram video, Dashti addressed the intense online reaction directed at him and his associates since the confrontation. “Since that day, people have threatened me, doxxed my friends, even harassed my family,” Dashti said.
Addressing online commentators who questioned his motives and political affiliations, he added that he had been asked: “Am I a Zionist plant? Do I work for the Rogers campaign? I don’t work for anyone. I’m just a Persian student and my family was hunted in the streets of Iran.”
“So to all you detectives, yes, I’m a proud Christian conservative. I’m a member of College Republicans, and yes, I have met Mike Rogers,” Dashti said. “But none of that changes the fact that Abdul’s answer was terrible.”
Dashti concluded his video saying, “You think you can just walk into a university and think everyone’s going to love you,” Dashti said, “There will always be people like me, people on our own that are sick and tired of your bulls***… And Abdul, maybe answer the question next time.”
Dashti and El-Sayed did not respond to requests for comment by publication time.
