- Thursday, May 15, 2025
Badar Khan Suri, a postdoctoral fellow at Georgetown University, was arrested by federal agents for his pro-Palestinian activism and was being held in Texas
By: India Weekly
A US federal judge has ordered the release of an Indian researcher from Georgetown University, whom the Trump administration detained over his pro-Palestinian activism and alleged Hamas ties.
Badar Khan Suri, a postdoctoral fellow, was arrested by federal agents in March at his home in Virginia and has been held in Texas, to be deported later.
Trump has targeted foreign citizens, including Suri, who participated in protests in support of Palestinians and against US ally Israel’s war in Gaza.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio revoked his visa in March, citing potential harm to US foreign relations, according to The Washington Post.
Civil rights and immigrant advocacy groups accuse the administration of unfairly targeting political critics.
District Judge Patricia Giles , who previously barred Suri’s deportation, ordered his immediate release on Wednesday (14) and that he be allowed to return from Texas to his wife and three children in Virginia on his personal recognizance.
“Hearing the judge’s words brought tears to my eyes,” Suri’s wife, Mapheze Saleh, a US citizen.
“Speaking out about what’s happening in Palestine is not a crime,” Saleh said. “Let’s show the world that this country is still a place where people can and do express their beliefs without fear.”
Giles, in ordering Suri’s release, said his detention violated his First Amendment rights to free speech.
“The court’s order today should send a clear message to the Trump administration that it cannot arrest someone, rip them away from their family, and incarcerate them just for standing in solidarity with Palestinians and against the genocide in Gaza,” said Astha Sharma Pokharel, an attorney at the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR), which is among the groups representing Suri in court.
Suri’s release comes several days after another judge ordered the release from custody of Rumeysa Ozturk, a Turkish Ph.D student at Tufts University in Massachusetts, who was detained in another high-profile case.
Another Indian student, Ranjani Srinivasan from Columbia University had self-deported after her visa was revoked for allegedly “advocating for violence and terrorism” and involvement in activities supporting Hamas.
Srinivasan had entered the United States on an F-1 student visa as a doctoral student in Urban Planning at Columbia University, the Department of Homeland Security had said.
“I’m fearful that even the most low-level political speech or just doing what we all do — like shout into the abyss that is social media — can turn into this dystopian nightmare where somebody is calling you a terrorist sympathiser and making you, literally, fear for your life and your safety,” Srinivasan told The New York Times in an interview.
Suri is a postdoctoral fellow at the Alwaleed Bin Talal Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding at the Edmund A Walsh School of Foreign Service, Georgetown University, Washington DC.
He is a former student of Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi, where he completed his PhD from Nelson Mandela Center for Peace and Conflict Resolution.
Nader Hashemi, an associate professor at Georgetown, told AFP the decision was “a victory” not only for Suri and his family but also “for the struggle for democracy in the United States.”
Tricia McLaughlin, a Department of Homeland Security spokeswoman, said on X at the time of Suri’s arrest that he was “actively spreading Hamas propaganda and promoting anti-Semitism on social media.”
McLaughlin also accused him of having “close connections to a known or suspected terrorist, who is a senior advisor to Hamas.”
According to The New York Times, Saleh is the daughter of Ahmed Yousef, a former adviser to assassinated Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, and had worked with Al Jazeera.
McLaughlin said Suri was subject to deportation under a provision of immigration law that allows for expulsion if the visa holder’s presence in the United States is determined to threaten US foreign policy.
Hamas is a US-designated terror organization. (Agencies)
