{
  "id": 12475616,
  "title": "Antisemitism Law Helped Get a Professor Fired for Free Speech, Lawsuit Says",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/06/antisemitism-law-helped-get-a-professor-fired-for-free-speech-lawsuit",
  "topic": "world",
  "section": "World",
  "published": "2026-10-06T21:40:23.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "The Intercept",
    "slug": "the-intercept",
    "url": "https://theintercept.com/2026/10/06/professor-fired-free-speech-iran-antisemitism-law/"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Iranian American professor Shirin Saeidi was fired by the University of Arkansas due to social media posts criticizing Israel, according to a lawsuit filed by the professor. The decision to fire Saeidi was supported by a state law that allows universities to lose public funding if they fail to confront antisemitism. The lawsuit claims the law is a restriction on free speech disguised as equal protection. Saeidi contends she was targeted for her pro-Palestinian views and suffered defamation. She seeks to void her termination, receive back pay, and damages. A lawyer for Saeidi stated that the university feared any mention of the new antisemitism law and wanted to avoid any criticism of it.",
  "summary": "A hardline anti-Islamic Republic group went after a tenured professor for comments about Iran. When that didn’t work, they cited tweets about Israel and Gaza. The post Antisemitism Law Helped Get a Professor Fired for Free Speech, Lawsuit Says appeared first on The Intercept .",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 2,
    "also_reported_by": [
      {
        "outlet": "The Intercept",
        "title": "Antisemitism Law Helped Get a Professor Fired for Free Speech, Lawsuit Says",
        "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/06/antisemitism-law-helped-get-a-professor-fired-for-free-speech-lawsuit-12479201",
        "published": "2026-10-06T21:40:23.000Z"
      }
    ]
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}