Who is Saifullah Khan? Yale defamation lawsuit controversy explored as former student sues university 

Saifullah Khan, a former Yale student acquitted of r*pe allegations in 2018, is suing his accuser for defamation over statements she had made during the Yale hearing that allegedly derailed his education. In addition to the victim, Khan is also suing Yale University for $110 million in damages and the opportunity to finish his degree over breach of contract and emotional distress.

In 2018, in a Yale disciplinary hearing, Saifullah Khan was accused of taking advantage of a 21-year-old acquaintance when she was inebriated following an off-campus Halloween costume party.

During the quasi-judicial process, Khan and his attorneys listened to the women’s testimony in a separate room where they were not allowed to cross-examine the accuser. Subsequently, Khan was expelled from the school amid the allegations.

Yale University (Image via Lil Newsy/X)

Shortly after, in a criminal trial, a lawyer cross-examined the woman with questions that appalled women’s rights advocates. During the trial, Khan’s attorneys argued the encounter was consensual and alluded that the women welcomed Khan’s advances since she wore provocative clothing and exchanged what they deemed "flirty texts" in the days leading up to the incident.

Shortly after, Khan was acquitted in the criminal trial and returned to Yale but was thrown out following an uproar from the students in 2019. Khan then sued his accuser for defamation, highlighting how Yale University failed to follow due process during the quasi-judicial hearing.

The move was considered unusual as witnesses in “quasi-judicial” hearings have absolute immunity against defamation lawsuits. However, in June 2023, the Connecticut Supreme Court ruled that Khan could sue his accuser. The court decreed that the Yale hearing couldn't be considered "quasi-judicial" as they failed to follow due process by not allowing the defendant to cross-examine his accuser. The ruling has now left victims in university hearings vulnerable to defamation lawsuits.

“For absolute immunity to apply under Connecticut law,” the justices wrote, “fundamental fairness requires meaningful cross-examination in proceedings like the one at issue."

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Saifullah Khan is a native of Afghanistan

Saifullah Khan (Image via Faso/X)

Saifullah Khan, a native of Afghanistan who graduated from Hotchkiss High School, started attending Yale on a full scholarship in 2012 and majored in neuroscience.

In 2015, during an off-campus Halloween party, an unidentified 21-year-old woman ended up in the company of an acquaintance Saifullah Khan, after she got separated from her friends.

The woman who had imbibed excessive amounts of alcohol for the first time recalled Khan standing beside her after she got sick. The victim told the police that she woke in the middle of the night to find Khan on top of her. The woman said that she tried to push him off but lost consciousness in her inebriated state.

The next morning the woman found herself naked with bruising on her legs and saw used condoms on the floor. She told the police that even though she remembered lying down fully clothed the previous night she woke up naked in her room the next morning. She then confronted Khan saying “What you did to me last night was wrong,” and asked him to leave her room.

The woman reported the incident, which went to trial in 2018. Around the same time, Yale University held a hearing and expelled Saifullah Khan after listening to the woman’s testimony.

In the criminal trial, Khan’s lawyers challenged the victim’s account, saying that the encounter was consensual and that she had invited him into her room. After three hours of deliberations, Khan was acquitted in the case.

Saifullah Khan then returned to Yale to resume his studies despite widespread opposition. Following a petition that included 78,000 signatures, he was kicked out of the school in 2019.

Following that he sued the victim over her statement. However, the lawsuit was stalled due to a law that protects witnesses in quasi-judicial hearings from defamation.

However, in June, despite the court sympathizing with the plight of the victim, said that the lawsuit could move forward as the Yale hearing had procedural shortcomings that included a lack of witness cross-examination.