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For Immediate Release
July, 09 2009, 08:59am EDT
Contact:
Where Is the Iranian Movement Going?
A conversation with leading Iran analysts and Iranian reform movement figures Featuring Mohsen Makhmalbaf, Fatemeh Haghighatjoo and Hamid Dabashi on the 10th Anniversary of the "18th of Tir" Protests in Iran
WASHINGTON
Conference call time: Thursday July
9, NOON ET
Conference Dial-in Number: (218) 844-8230
Participant Access Code: 1027804#
The Huffington Post is
hosting a teleconference on July 9 with Mohsen Makhmalbaf (spokesperson
for the Mir-Hossein Moussavi's campaign abroad), Fatemeh Haghighatjoo
(former Iranian parliamentarian) and Hamid Dabashi (Columbia University
professor).
On the 18th of Tir (July
9) in 1999, students protesting the closing of the reformist newspaper
Salaam were attacked in their dormitories in Tehran and Tabriz. Protests
continued for six days and culminated with thousands of Iranians demonstrating
for democracy and civil rights. At the time, it was the biggest display
of popular discontent in the Islamic Republic's history. The demonstrations
were eventually broken up by riot police.
Thursday marks the 10th anniversary
of the 18th of Tir. The date has been marked annually by demonstrations
over the past decade, but given the events of the last several weeks,
the anniversary takes on special significance.
Reports indicatethat reformists are also planning events within Iran.
This teleconference will give journalists
the opportunity to speak with leading Iran analysts and Iranian reform
movement figures as they reflect on the 18th of Tir and offer
insights on the future of the movement.
Mohsen Makhmalbaf is a world-renowned
Iranian filmmaker. Largely credited with helping launch Iranian new
wave cinema, Makhmalbaf has won numerous awards and his films have been
featured in major festivals worldwide. As of June 12, 2009, following
the events of the Iranian presidential election, Makhmalbaf was made
the official spokesman of Mir-Hossein Moussavi's campaign abroad.
Since, then he has continuously drawn international attention to allegations
of voter fraud and human rights abuses in Iran.
Fatemeh Haghighatjoo, an Iranian
citizen, is a human rights activist and former parliamentarian in
the 6th Majils (Iran's reform parliament) from 2000 to 2004. During
her time in parliament, she was renowned as an articulate and fearless
advocate of human rights and women's rights in particular and was
president of the Student Movement Caucus. Haghighatjoo is currently
visiting scholar at the Center for Women in Politics and Public Policy
at the University of Massachusetts Boston.
Hamid Dabashi is the Hagop
Kevorkian Professor of Iranian Studies and Comparative Literature at
Columbia University in New York. Having received a dual Ph.D. in
Sociology of Culture and Islamic Studies from the University of Pennsylvania,
Dabashi is the author over 18 books, most recently Iran: A People Interrupted.
Dabashi is also a well-respected public commentator on culture, society
and politics and has written extensively on the current Iranian opposition
movement.
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The account was restored roughly two hours later, but its administrators were still blocked from posting new content for hours after.
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Meta spokesperson Andy Stone would subsequently offer a more detailed explanation in a Saturday social media post.
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Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) called Meta's suspension of the account "outrageous," and vowed to "put this on the January investigation list" should Democrats retake control of Congress after the 2026 midterm elections.
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"Voting early is the first step in how we protect those rights. A vote cast today can't be lost to a long line or a closed polling place."
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More than 3,000 No Kings rallies held in all 50 US states on Saturday sought to rally voters to the polls ahead of the 2026 midterm elections.
While past No Kings demonstrations have focused on protesting the policies of President Donald Trump and the Republican Party, Saturday's demonstrations were geared toward helping Americans ensure that their vote is counted in next month's elections.
On the No Kings website, organizers described the events as "a day of nonpartisan voter participation, being in community with each other, and making sure every eligible voter has a plan, knows their options, and is ready to make their voice count."
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Leah Greenberg: No Kings is a deceptively simple statement. It is a statement that in America, power lies at the hands of the people, and we express our power at the ballot box.
[image or embed]
— Indivisible ❌👑 (@indivisible.org) October 17, 2026 at 12:53 PM
Greenberg outlined how Trump has tried to attack the voting process throughout his second term, including his unprecedented mid-decade redistricting campaign and his attempts to restrict the right to vote by mail.
"They want chaos, fear, and confusion at the polls," said Greenberg. "Voting early is the first step in how we protect those rights. A vote cast today can't be lost to a long line or a closed polling place."
In a Thursday interview with journalist Steven Beschloss, Indivisible co-founder Ezra Levin said he hoped the No Kings rallies would drive "the biggest turnout in midterms in American history," which he said was important "because we have an authoritarian" in Trump "who will take advantage of any uncertainty."
Minnesota Democratic US Senate candidate Peggy Flanagan, whose state came under siege last winter from federal immigration agents, expressed support for the No Kings rallies in a Saturday social media post.
"This year, Minnesotans showed the world that we don't do kings," Flanagan wrote. "Today, we're doing it again. No matter where you are, make your voice heard."
The demonstrations also earned a thumbs up from Rep. Delia Ramirez (D-Ill.).
"No kings. No authoritarians. No warmongers. No despots," Ramirez wrote. "All across the country, Americans are taking to the streets and organizing to defend our neighbors and our democracy! Remember that you have rights."
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Protests erupted throughout France on Saturday, with demonstrators citing a wide variety of grievances including inequality, the high cost of living, and poor conditions in the nation's schools.
As reported by Agence France-Presse, tens of thousands of demonstrators marched in Paris and other cities to protest what they said was inaction by the French government on the biggest problems facing the country.
"For years we've had climate, economy, and equality problems," one protester identified as Agnes told AFP, "but the government is not doing anything about it."
18-year-old student Kamil Alahyan told AFP that there are "so many reasons" to protest, including "the elections coming up in 2027, politicians who lie, the ultra-rich who've been taking more and more wealth over the past 10 years."
A 19-year-old protester identified as Lola expressed a similar view in an interview published by The Guardian on Saturday.
"We are fighting because the cost of living is too harsh," Lola said, "because the price of fuel is too high, because high school pupils are being violently attacked and hurt all over the country just for trying to protest and ask for more teachers and decent learning conditions."
Student organizer Ryad Rani told AFP that "the government is trembling and it's right to tremble because when the French people are angry, they never let up."
Saturday's demonstrations mark the expansion of a movement that began last month when students blockaded their schools to protest staffing shortages, dilapidated buildings, and a widely criticized university application system.
According to The New York Times, demonstrations took place in at least 140 cities across the country.
Some of the protests did turn violent in major cities including Lyon, Marseille, and Paris, AFP reported. A Saturday BBC report claimed that more than 270 protesters have been arrested nationwide.
French Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu accused "ultra-left groups" of inciting violence at the demonstrations.
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Jean-Luc Mélenchon, leader the left-wing France Unbowed party, slammed the media for focusing too much on the isolated incidents of violence and not reporting on the overwhelmingly peaceful nature of the demonstrations.
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Trump justified the decision by claiming the sanctions waiver "is in the national interests of the United States," without offering further details. The president said he submitted a report to Congress elaborating on his reasons for waiving the sanctions.
A Friday report in The New York Times described the waiver as "another economic lifeline to Russian President Vladimir V. Putin," as the sanctions had been designed "to target Russian officials, oligarchs, and financial institutions" and "squeeze the financial lifelines sustaining Russia’s war against Ukraine."
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy condemned the sanctions waiver, and urged US lawmakers and voters to speak out against the US president's actions.
"It is important that everyone in America... sees what is really happening," Zelenskyy wrote in a Saturday social media post. "At a time when the Russians have carried out such a massive attack on our energy sector, a decision was unfortunately made in America to completely disregard the [sanctions law], which was supposed to impose truly effective pressure on Russia to bring this war to an end."
Zelenskyy emphasized that the sanctions package could still do a lot of good, but "it needs to actually work, and every voice in support of it matters."
Trump in recent weeks has been pressuring Ukraine to stop its attacks on Russian energy infrastructure in a bid to lower global prices of gas and diesel, both of which have skyrocketed in recent months because of the president's illegal war with Iran.
In addition to pressuring Ukraine, Trump also struck a deal with Russia to import diesel into the US, drawing a bipartisan rebuke from lawmakers who accused the president of funding Putin's war machine.
Rep. Don Beyer (D-Va.) ripped Trump's decision to waive the Russia sanctions in a Friday social media post.
"Trump’s latest surrender to Putin again betrays our Ukrainian partners," Beyer wrote, "and defies clear congressional intent of legislation designed to punish Russia for its illegal war of aggression."
Beyer also pointed to flaws in the sanctions bill that he said gave Trump too much discretionary power to not only waive sanctions on Russia, but to impose further tariffs on US allies.
"Congress must fix this flawed law," he said, "to stop Trump from capitulating to Putin and ensure that it truly supports Ukraine."
Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) on Saturday slammed Trump's sanctions waiver as "beyond irresponsible."
"What part of enforcing a law passed 86-11 by the Senate does the President and his advisors not understand?" Tillis asked. "It's unconscionable that this administration is capitulating to a Russian dictator who illegally invaded Ukraine and butchers innocent civilians every single day."
Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), who co-authored the sanctions law with the late Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), said Trump has shown "that he stands on the side of a bloodthirsty thug and the enablers of Russia's war machine and against the majority of Americans, their representatives in both houses of Congress, and our European allies."
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As Rubio Heads to India, US Progressives Sound Alarm About Repression and Surveillance of Protests
"The US and India have an obligation to promote and defend the rights to freedom of assembly and expression," six Democrats in Congress reminded the top US diplomat.
Oct 16, 2026
On the eve of US Secretary of State Marco Rubio's trip to India, six progressives in the House of Representatives on Friday sounded the alarm over the Indian government's response to recent protests, including its alleged spying on American soil.
"We write with concern regarding a pattern of repression, wrongful detention, and excessive use of force by security forces during student protests in Delhi and other localities across India," Democratic Reps. Jesús "Chuy" García (Ill.), Pramila Jayapal (Wash.), Jim McGovern (Mass.), Eleanor Holmes Norton (DC), Ilhan Omar (Minn.), and Rashida Tlaib (Mich.) said in a letter to President Donald Trump's top diplomat.
"The United States-India relationship has historically been rooted in democratic values, constitutional governance, and strong people-to-people ties," they wrote. "As the world's largest democracies and state parties to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the US and India have an obligation to promote and defend the rights to freedom of assembly and expression. It is in this spirit of shared values and obligations that we raise the following concerns."
As the letter lays out, protests began in June after the leak and subsequent cancellation of India's medical college entrance examination. While the demonstrators initially demanded reforms to the education system, including the resignation of Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, the Cockroach Janta Party's (CJP) movement ultimately "grew to give voice to a broader set of grievances, including high levels of youth unemployment, government corruption, and barriers to democratic participation."
In recent weeks, "tens of thousands of demonstrators have taken to the streets of major cities across India to protest... the Election Commission's Special Intensive Revision (SIR), which has purged more than 130 million people from voter rolls since 2025," the letter details, noting that protesters have called for the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar.
At least "hundreds of people have been detained by police across India since October 10, including CJP movement leaders, protesters, and journalists," the lawmakers highlighted. The government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his right-wing Bharatiya Janata Party has also closed some public spaces, used unwarranted force against unarmed demonstrators, and ordered telecommunications companies to shut down mobile internet services in a bid to thwart protests.
However, the Democrats aren't just alarmed by actions across India; they also pointed to "reports that Indian diplomatic missions in the United States hired photographers to surveil protesters on American soil," with members of US human rights groups and the Indian diaspora disclosing that they were recorded at protests in Chicago, San Francisco, and Washington, DC.
"These incidents raise particular alarm in light of India's documented pattern of engaging in transnational repression, including through the weaponization of consular services, harassment, intimidation, and physical violence," the members of Congress wrote. "It is unacceptable that individuals on United States soil may not exercise their rights to freedom of expression and assembly, guaranteed to them by the US Constitution and international law for fear of retribution by a foreign government."
The lawmakers asked Rubio's department to:
- Press the Indian government to initiate thorough, transparent, and independent investigations of alleged human rights violations connected to the law enforcement response to protests;
- Encourage the release of any individuals detained in contravention to Indian and international law for peacefully exercising the rights to freedom of expression and assembly;
- Thoroughly investigate reports that Indian diplomatic missions engaged in the surveillance and intimidation of protesters within the United States; and
- Pursuant to Section 6 of the Arms Export Control Act, assess whether India has engaged in a consistent pattern of acts of intimidation or harassment directed against individuals in the United States and is thus ineligible for arms sales.
Rubio is expected to meet with Indian Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar in Mumbai on October 20. However, Rubio—a former US senator expected to run for president in 2028—and the second Trump administration more broadly have also been widely criticized for authoritarian behavior and their records on human rights.
After Rubio attacked Amnesty International, the globally renowned group argued earlier this week that "as secretary of state, he has launched a wholesale attack on the concept of human rights." Specifically, he has:
- Eviscerated the US government's human rights infrastructure;
- Vowed to wreck international human rights institutions;
- Championed the US administration's extrajudicial killings in the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific; and
- Continued to arm Israel as it commits genocide in Gaza.
Further, "as the head of the National Security Council, he has not ensured the release of investigations into mass killings of civilians in US airstrikes in Yemen and Iran," Amnesty noted. "He's leading US attempts to destroy the international justice system. That includes a campaign to, in his words, 'dismantle' the International Criminal Court."
More broadly, the second Trump administration has repeatedly generated fears of interference in next month's midterm elections, weaponized the federal government against the president's political "enemies," spent taxpayer dollars on far-right propaganda, punished journalists and outlets deemed unfriendly to the GOP agenda, pursued a deadly mass detention and deportation effort, slaughtered hundreds of people by bombing alleged drug-trafficking boats on the high seas, and much more.
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'Monstrous': Netanyahu Casts Doubt on Filmed Israeli Settler Attack of American Journalist
"You mean the footage of the Israeli terrorists beating her up isn't clear enough?" one critic sardonically asked.
Oct 16, 2026
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu faced blistering criticism Friday after his office published a statement casting doubt on the circumstances surrounding a brutal attack earlier in the day by settlers in the illegally occupied West Bank that left an American journalist hospitalized.
"The facts surrounding the confrontation near Abu Falah, during which Washington Post photojournalist Heidi Levine was allegedly assaulted, remain unclear and are under investigation," Netanyahu's office said on social media.
As Common Dreams reported, Levine—a 63-year-old Jewish American by birth who has reported from war zones including Afghanistan, Kosovo, Iraq, Lebanon, Libya, and Syria—was covering Palestinian farmers desperately trying to harvest their olives when around 80 masked settler colonists descended upon them.
Armed with rocks, clubs, sticks, assault rifles, and the self-assured belief that their deity figure promised them all the land that was once ruled by Jewish kings millennia ago, the settlers set fire to the olive trees that are the backbone of Palestine's rural economy and a literal symbol of Palestinians' rootedness in their homeland.
The assailants fired guns and threw rocks at the olive harvesters, reportedly wounding at least two Palestinians. While documenting the attack, Levine—who, like other journalists killed or wounded by Israel, was clad in a helmet and a blue vest clearly marked "PRESS"—was set upon by settlers, knocked to the ground, and kicked dozens of times while her equipment was stolen.
"Israel unequivocally condemns violence against anyone—Jews, Arabs, Christians, or journalists," Netanyahu's office claimed. "Those responsible will be held accountable."
"But serious questions remain," the statement continued. "Reports indicate some 200 Arabs and far-left activists confronted approximately 40 Israeli youths. Footage shows masked individuals on both sides hurling objects, amid reports of fireworks fired at Jewish youths. Other footage appears to show Levine knocked down and immediately helped to her feet by the same unidentified individual."
"The investigation must establish the facts, including who initiated the violence," the office added. "We will not allow disputed incidents to be exploited to demonize the hundreds of thousands of law-abiding Jewish residents."
The colonization of the occupied Palestinian territories by Jewish settlers—many of them non-Israelis who are availing themselves of the ethnosupremacist and apartheid policy of allowing any Jew to live in a land whose Palestinian inhabitants have been ethnically cleansed from it for nearly 80 years—is inherently illegal under international law.
Washington Post executive editor Matt Murray pushed back on Netanyahu's statement on social media, saying: "To be clear: Some facts are neither in dispute nor unclear. Our photographer was clearly marked as press. She was clearly beaten. These are not partisan or risible statements, but indisputable. We urge a thorough investigation and accountability."
International observers also criticized Netanyahu's statement.
"They are actually trying to justify an American WaPo journalist being severely beaten by a mob of settler terrorists," US commentator Krystal Ball said on social media, using the syllabic abbreviation for the Post.
Irish journalist Barry Malone responded to Netanyahu's post on X, saying: "Hi. There's video. It's clear."
US physician Amira Dalton said, "Israel lies and then calls you an antisemite for calling out their lies."
The X account Israel Exposed, which has more than 400,000 followers, sardonically asked, "You mean the footage of the Israeli terrorists beating her up isn't clear enough?"
The Israeli veterans' group Breaking the Silence said that "you can see the settlers who attacked Heidi Levine, a journalist for The Washington Post. But what you can’t see is the state behind them: a state that funds them, arms them, and, above all, grants them near-total impunity for their actions. This violence does not happen in a vacuum. Israel enables it."
While Lt. Col. Ariella Mazor, chief international spokesperson for the Israel Defense Forces, claimed the military had sent battalions to the West Bank to contain the outbreak of violence, eyewitnesses said the IDF was involved in the attack on Abu Falah.
“The army did nothing to stop the settlers," Israeli journalist Oren Ziv, who was present during the attack, told The Washington Post.
That's because Israel's far-right government is unapologetically seeking to "finish the job of 1948," as Netanyahu once put it—a reference to the ethnic cleansing of more than 750,000 Palestinians during the creation of the modern Israeli state—and take all of Palestine.
"The entire land is ours," Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir said earlier this month, in the lead-up to Israel's October 27 elections."This is our country."
Last month, Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich vowed to do in the West Bank "what we did in Gaza," where three years of genocidal annihilation have left more than 250,000 Palestinians dead or wounded, nearly 2 million people forcibly displaced, and an estimated 70% of the territory under Israeli control.
According to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, at least 1,138 Palestinians—at least 250 of them children—have been killed by Israeli soldiers and settlers in the West Bank since October 2023.
At least nine Americans have been killed by Israeli settlers and security forces in the West Bank since January 2022, including journalists, human rights activists, and Palestinian Americans visiting relatives.
Despite claims by Israel that perpetrators of such attacks will be held accountable, impunity is the general rule.
“Sadly, none of them will be prosecuted,” Levine said of her attackers. “I am sure of it.”
Multiple US senators demanded that Israel bring Levin's assailants to justice.
"The continued lack of accountability for settler violence in the West Bank has allowed attacks on innocent people, including multiple Americans, to go unanswered, and it is eroding what should be a strong alliance between the US and Israel," Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.) said on social media. "Prime Minister Netanyahu isn't doing nearly enough to stop the violence."
Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) also took to social media after Friday's attack, writing, "Today, another American citizen and journalist was brutalized by Israeli settlers attacking Palestinians in the West Bank."
"This repeated violence and brazen impunity for attacks against Americans and Palestinians alike are unacceptable," he added. "When will [President Donald] Trump and [Secretary of State Marco] Rubio DO SOMETHING?"
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