DHS arrests Georgetown researcher who is married to the daughter of a Hamas official
https://www.jta.org/2025/03/20/united-states/dhs-arrests-georgetown-researcher-who-is-married-to-the-daughter-of-a-hamas-official
Federal officials have detained a Georgetown University researcher who they said was “spreading Hamas propaganda,” expanding the number of arrests under the Trump administration’s push to crack down on perceived antisemitism on college campuses.
Badar Khan Suri, an Indian national who is a postdoctoral fellow, was arrested on Monday, according to a petition filed by his lawyers and first reported by Politico.
Suri has not been charged with a crime, nor was he named in news coverage about pro-Palestinian protests at Georgetown last year. But he has attracted attention because of his social media posts and because he is married to another Georgetown student, Mapheze Ahmad Yousef Saleh, who is the daughter of a senior Hamas official.
Saleh, a graduate student at the school’s Center for Contemporary Arab Studies, is a U.S. citizen. Her father, Ahmed Yousef, was an adviser to Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, whom Israel assassinated. Yousef criticized Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel as a “terrible error,” a rarity among associates of the terror group.
US court blocks deportation of Georgetown University researcher
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c1enyqjgjlqo
A US court has blocked the Trump administration from deporting a Georgetown University researcher who was detained by immigration authorities earlier this week. Badar Khan Suri, an Indian national, is a postdoctoral fellow studying and teaching at the prestigious Washington DC institution on a student visa.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) accused him of "spreading Hamas propaganda" and having "close connections to a known or suspected terrorist".
Mr Suri's lawyer and employer have denied the allegation. His lawyer said in a court filing that his client was targeted because of his wife's "identity as a Palestinian and her constitutionally protected speech".
Georgetown researcher arrest escalates Trump free speech crackdown
Washington, DC – Nader Hashemi, a professor of Middle East and Islamic politics at Georgetown University, has been a vocal critic of efforts to silence pro-Palestine protesters and academics amid Israel’s war in Gaza.
Those efforts reached new heights under the administration of President Donald Trump, which last week took the extraordinary measure of detaining and seeking to deport Columbia University student Mahmoud Khalil, a permanent resident married to a US citizen.
Then, immigration authorities came for one of Hashemi’s own students. Earlier this week, agents detained Badar Khan Suri, a postdoctoral fellow at Georgetown’s Prince Alwaleed bin Talal Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding, which Hashemi directs.
Khaled Elgindy, a visiting scholar at Georgetown who focuses on Palestinian-Israel affairs, said the Trump administration’s enforcement efforts appear to be entering “a different realm with this case”.
Trump / Aipac witch hunt ongoing.
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