Palestinian student activist Mohsen Mahdawi freed from US detention
A Palestinian student at Columbia University in New York City who led protests against Israel’s war on Gaza at the institution last year has been freed after a judge ordered his release.
Local media reports showed a crowd cheering as Mohsen Mahdawi left a federal courthouse in Burlington, Vermont. Wearing a black-and-white keffiyeh over his shoulders, he led a chant of “the people, united, will never be defeated”.
Mahdawi was arrested during a citizenship interview earlier this month. He is one of several pro-Palestinian student activists who have been rounded up in the Trump administration’s crackdown on support for Palestinian rights in the US.
The government argued Mahdawi – a legal US permanent resident – could be deported because Secretary of State Marco Rubio determined his presence and activities “would have serious adverse foreign policy consequences and would compromise a compelling US foreign policy interest”.
Mahdawi’s lawyers said he was detained in retaliation for his speech advocating for Palestinian human rights.
Small victory, still a long battle ahead.
Mahdawi targeted for Palestine protest activities
Mohsen Mahdawi is now free on bail. He’s still facing further proceedings, but for now, the judge has ruled he is not a flight risk. In other words, he’s not a danger to the public. But he will come back to court.
Mahdawi is a Palestinian from the West Bank and is studying at Columbia University. Secretary of State Rubio wrote in a memo that the reason Mahdawi, as a permanent US resident, was being subjected to expulsion … is because of his protest activities.
Rubio said his protest actions undermine the Middle East peace process for the US because it foments and reinforces anti-Semitic activity. This is something that Mahdawi vehemently denies.
When it comes to green-card holders, they don’t have the same rights in the United States as a US citizen, and they can be denaturalised. That is not new in the US, but what is new is that now people are being targeted because of their protest activities.
