Washington:
A US judge on Thursday ordered Indian researchers from top American universities not to be excluded from the country following the threat of his arrest and expulsion for alleged Hamas bonds.
The detention of Badal Khan Suri, a postdoctoral researcher at Georgetown University in the US capital, comes as the fear that freedom of research and speech will be challenged two months later in President Donald Trump’s new term, has emerged in the world of academics.
Suri’s lawyers demanded release and denounced the arrest as “targeted retaliatory detention” intended to silence or at least to cool it down with restrictions.
On Thursday evening, Virginia Eastern Court Judge Patricia Toliver Giles ordered Suri “will not be excluded from the United States unless the court issues an order against it.”
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), which filed an emergency motion to stop the deportation, also said he was being detained at a Louisiana immigration detention center.
“Tearing someone out of their homes and families, stripping them of their immigrant status and detaining them based on a political perspective is a clear attempt by President Trump to silence their opposition,” said ACLU immigration rights lawyer Sofia Greg.
“That is patently unconstitutional.”
On Wednesday, the French government denounced the expulsion of French space scientists intended to attend a meeting in Houston after officials searched his smartphone and found what they called “hateful” messages about US policies.
“Dr. Khan Sri is an Indian citizen who has been properly granted a visa to enter the United States to continue his doctoral studies on peacebuilding in Iraq and Afghanistan,” Georgetown University said in a statement.
“We do not recognize that he is engaged in illegal activities and have not received any reason for his detention.”
Secretary of State Marco Rubio also does not argue that Suri either committed a crime or actually broke the law,” his lawyer said in a court filing.
The filing accused the US government of detaining Suri “on the basis of his family ties and constitutionally protected freedom of speech.”
A friend has been arrested
Sri, a fellow for Muslim and Christian Understanding at the Alwaleed Binthalal Center in Georgetown, was arrested Monday at his home in Arlington, Virginia, according to the university’s website.
Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said Sri will “actively spread the propaganda of Hamas, a Georgetown University foreign exchange student, and promote anti-Semitism on social media.”
McLaughlin accused him of “closely ties with known or suspect terrorists who are senior advisers at Hamas.”
The State Department has determined that if researchers decide that the presence of visa owners in the United States threatens US foreign policy, they will be subject to deportation under the provisions of the Immigration Act that allows them to be expelled, she added.
Hamas is a terrorist organization designated by the United States.
Georgetown University said it “supports the right to free investigation, deliberation and debate among community members,” even when underlying ideas are difficult, controversial or unfavourable.
Citing the petition filed by Suri’s lawyers, Politico reported that Suri’s wife is a Palestinian American citizen and believes they are targeted because the government suspects of opposition to U.S. policies regarding Israel.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published by Syndicate Feed.)
