US Judge Blocks Deportation of Indian Academic Tied to Hamas
New Delhi (The Uttam Hindu): A federal judge has blocked the deportation of Indian academic Badar Khan Suri, who was accused of allegedly supporting Hamas. The Indian academic was detained by US immigration officials after his student visa was revoked. Accepting an appeal on Suri's behalf, Judge Patricia Tolliver Giles on Thursday ordered that Suri, who is being held in a detention center in Louisiana, cannot be deported without a court order.
Suri holds a PhD from Jamia Millia Islamia University in New Delhi and was a post-doctoral fellow at Georgetown University in Washington, where he taught a course on “Majoritarianism and Minority Rights in South Asia.” Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin accused him of “spreading Hamas propaganda and promoting anti-Semitism on social media.” She said he had “close ties to a senior Hamas adviser who is a suspected terrorist.”
But his lawyer wrote in his court filing that he is being targeted for deportation because he is married to a Palestinian-American, based solely on his “familial ties to individuals who may have criticized U.S. foreign policy relating to Israel.” A statement from Georgetown University said, “We are not aware of his involvement in any illegal activity, and we have found no reason for his detention.”
According to the university website, Suri's wife Mafeez Saleh, who is pursuing a master's in Arab studies, has worked for the "Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Gaza" and written for the Middle East Monitor, Qatar government TV network Al Jazeera and Palestinian media. Suri is the second Indian to be recruited by President Donald Trump's campaign to speak out against pro-Palestinian protests that have taken place at several universities across the US. In some cases, the protests turned anti-Semitism and support for Hamas.
Ranjani Srinivasan, a PhD student at Columbia University in New York, moved to Canada earlier this month. She too was informed by immigration officials that her student visa had been revoked and that they were looking for her. Suri's lawyer said in his filing that Homeland Security agents, who arrived with their faces covered on Monday, stopped Suri outside her residence in a Washington suburb and took her away.
He was taken to a detention center in Farmville, Virginia, before being sent to Louisiana. His lawyers want him to be moved to a facility closer to his home while the case continues. According to Georgetown University, Mafeez Saleh, a US citizen, has a master's degree from Jamia Millia University and has worked at the Qatar Embassy in New Delhi.
