A US district court judge on Thursday blocked the deportation of Indian researcher Badar Khan Suri, following the arrest and threat of expulsion of the Georgetown University scholar for alleged Hamas ties.
According to a report by news agency AFP, 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 detention of Badar Khan Suri, a postdoctoral fellow at Georgetown University Washington DC, 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.
Badar Khan 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.”
Suri’s case also got support from the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), which has also filed an emergency motion to stop the deportation. The organisation said Suri was being held at an immigration detention center in Louisiana.
“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. That is patently unconstitutional” said ACLU immigrant rights attorney Sophia Gregg, AFP reported.
