US judge blocks expulsion of Indian researcher detained over alleged Hamas ties
Hamas ties.
The detention of Badar Khan Suri, a postdoctoral fellow at Georgetown University in the US capital, came as fears mount in the academic world that freedom of research and speech is being challenged two months into US President Donald Trump's new term.
Suri's lawyer demanded his release and denounced the arrest as a «targeted, retaliatory detention» that was intended «to silence, or at the very least restrict and chill, his speech» as well as that of others who «express support for Palestinian rights.»
Early Thursday evening Judge Patricia Tolliver Giles of the Eastern District of Virginia Court ordered Suri «shall not be removed from the United States unless and until the court issues a contrary order.»
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), which has also filed an emergency motion to stop the deportation, said Suri was being held at an immigration detention center in Louisiana.
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«Ripping someone from their home and family, stripping them of their immigration status, and detaining them solely based on political viewpoint is a clear attempt by President Trump to silence dissent,» said ACLU immigrant rights attorney Sophia Gregg.
«That is patently unconstitutional.»
On Wednesday, the French government condemned the expulsion of a French space scientist meant to attend a conference in Houston, after officials searched his smartphone and found what they called «hateful» messages against US policy.
«Dr Khan Suri is an Indian national who was duly granted a visa to enter the United States to continue his doctoral research on peacebuilding in Iraq and Afghanistan,» Georgetown University said in a statement.
«We are not aware of him engaging in any illegal activity, and we have not received a