By Olivia Díaz and Ben Finley, Associated Press
Alexandria, Virginia (AP) – a federal judge ordered the immigration officials on Thursday who did not deport a scholar of Georgetown that the government arrested until the court has had the opportunity to govern.
The American District Judge Patricia Tolliver Giles in Alexandria, Virginia, ordered that Badar Khan Suri “not be eliminated from the United States to less and until the court issues a opposite order.”
Suri, a postdoctoral scholar at the University of Georgetown and citizen of India, was arrested on Monday night outside his home in Virginia by officers who identified themselves as agents of the Department of National Security and told him that his visa had been revoked, according to a legal presentation of Suri’s lawyer.
Hassan Ahmad, a lawyer based in Virginia de Suri, wrote in a judicial presentation that Suri was attacked due to the “identity of his wife as a Palestinian speech and his constitutionally protected discourse.”
Suri and his wife, Mapheze Saleh, “have been Doxxed and stained for a long time,” said the presentation of the court. Critics have published Saleh’s photograph online along with information that includes its old job with Al Jazeera and its birthplace in the city of Gaza “as support for their alleged links with Hamas.”
Nader Hashemi, a professor of the Middle East and Islamic politics in Georgetown, told Associated Press that Suri focused intensely on his research and teaching. He felt a strong solidarity and sympathy for the Palestinians, but was not externally political on the campus.
“We have organized dozens of events from OC. 7th, when the Israel-Gaza War began, and I don’t remember seeing it in any of those events,” said Hashemi, who runs the center of Alwaleed for Muslim-Christian understanding, where Suri is a postdoctoral fellow. “That is not who was.”
Before his arrest, Suri and his wife had been the objectives of the right -wing campus groups, partly because Saleh’s father is Ahmed Yousef, a former Hamas advisor, Hashemi said.
Yousef confirmed to the New York Times that Suri is his son -in -law, and added that Suri was not involved in any “political activism”, even in the name of Hamas.
Yousef, who has publicly criticized the attack of October 7 against Israel, told the newspaper that he left his position in the government led by Hamas in Gaza more than a decade ago and that does not occupy a senior position with the militant group.
Georgetown’s Alwaleed center said in a statement that Suri’s arrest was part of a “Trump administration campaign to destroy higher education in the United States and punish its political opponents.”
Suri was later taken to a detention center in Louisiana, according to a government website. Their lawyers seek their immediate release and stop deportation procedures through their habit motion presented Tuesday against the Trump administration.
“The Trump administration has openly expressed its intention to arm the immigration law to punish non -citizens whose views are considered critical of US policy in relation to Israel,” Suri’s lawyer wrote.
The arrest of Suri to more than 1,000 miles (about 1,600 kilometers) of his family and lawyer “clearly intends to be reprisals and punishment for the protected speech of Mr. Suri,” added his lawyer.
Separately, student activist at Columbia University Mahmoud KhalilA legal resident of the United States without a criminal record, was arrested earlier this month for its participation in pro-Palestinian demonstrations and is struggling against deportation efforts in the Federal Court. AND Dr. Rasha AlawiehA kidney transplant specialist who previously worked and lived in Rhode Island, was deported during the weekend despite having an US visa.
Suri was accused of “spreading the propaganda of Hamas and promoting anti -Semitism in social networks” and determined by being deportable by the Secretary of the State Office, said the assistant secretary of National Security, Tricia McLaughlin, on Wednesday night in X, previously known as Twitter. Suri’s case was first reported by politician.
The presentation of Suri’s lawyer said that federal authorities have not provided evidence that he has committed any crime and that his arrest violates his freedom of expression and the rights of due process. Suri, who has no criminal record, has a visa that authorizes him to be in the United States as a visiting scholar, and his wife is an American citizen, according to the motion.
His lawyer did not respond immediately to the messages looking for more comments on Thursday.
The United States Democratic Representative, Don Beyer, whose district includes the county where Suri was arrested, said in a statement on Thursday that the arrest of the scholar was illegal, urging the court to consider the case of Suri.
“The ‘justification’ given by these violations of Mr. Suri’s right to due process is another violation of the Constitution: a flagrant attack on the first amendment,” Beyer said in a statement. “Mr. Suri and his family are unfortunately the last victim of President Trump’s assault on freedom of expression.”
Suri’s lawyers say he is teaching a course in Georgetown and hopes to become a university professor. A Georgetown website identifies Suri as a postdoctoral fellow in the center of Alwaleed Bin Talal for Muslim-Christian understanding at the University. The University said its areas of interest include processes of religion, violence and peace in the Middle East and southern Asia. The biography said he obtained a doctorate in India while studying efforts to introduce democracy in Afghanistan and Iraq, and has traveled widely in conflict areas in several countries.
The University said in a statement on Thursday that Suri is an Indian citizen who was “duly granted a visa to enter the United States to continue his doctoral research on the consolidation of peace in Iraq and Afghanistan.”
“We are not aware of him participating in any illegal activity, and we have not received a reason for his arrest,” said the school. “We support the rights of the members of our community to a free and open investigation, deliberation and debate, even if the underlying ideas can be difficult, controversial or objectable. We hope that the legal system judges this case fairly.”
The website of the Customs and Immigration detainees of the United States lists Suri as in custody of immigration officials in the installation of Alexandria’s staging in Louisiana.
Finley reported from Norfolk, Virginia.
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