Yale Law School has placed an employee on “immediate administrative leave” and launched an investigation into her membership in the designated terrorist network Samidoun, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine’s fundraising arm in North America. 

Helyeh Doutaghi, an associate research scholar and deputy director of the law and political economy project at Yale since 2023, is described as a “doctoral student of international law and a member of the international Samidoun Network,” according to Samidoun’s website.

The U.S. Department of the Treasury, together with Canada, designated the Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network, or “Samidoun,” a terrorist group in October, calling it a “sham charity that serves as an international fundraiser for the PFLP terrorist organization,” which operates in Gaza and the West Bank.  

“We take these allegations extremely seriously and immediately opened an investigation into the matter to ascertain the facts,” a university spokesperson told Jewish Insider. “Helyeh Doutaghi’s short-term position as an associate research scholar with the LPE Project expires next month. Until then, she has been placed on an immediate administrative leave pending the outcome of this investigation.” 

Doutaghi’s connection to Samidoun was first reported by the Buckley Beacon on Monday. Yale Law took down Doutaghi’s bio from its website on Tuesday.