Judge arranges release from Indian researcher Badar Khan Suri

Judge arranges release from Indian researcher Badar Khan Suri

Farmville, Virginia, USA - A US judge ordered the release of the Indian researcher Badar Khan Suri from a deportation center in Texas. This was done under certain conditions, and the decision was arrested in Virginia, where Suri has spread anti -Semitic propaganda for Hamas via social media. Suri has been housed in several facilities in Virginia and Texas since his arrest in March, whereby he first had to sleep on the floor in a crowded center and now has his own bed in a dormitory. His lawyers argue that the transfer to Texas was strategic in order to negotiate the case before a more conservative judge, and describe this as a "forum shopping".

The judge, Patricia Tolliver Giles, expressed skepticism about an application from the Trump administration to move Suris's lawsuit against the deportation to Texas. She fears that this could invalidate her earlier order to maintain Suri's stay in the USA. According to a lawyer from the Ministry of Justice, concerns about the number of beds available must be taken into account in the facility in Virginia, which Suri originally belonged to. There are currently other similar cases in which the rights of students and teachers with propalestinic positions are at stake, before US courts.

background for detention

Badar Khan Suri, who came to the USA with a J-1 visa in 2022 to work at Georgetown University, has a family with three children, including a 9-year-old son and 5-year-old twins. His wife, Mapheze Saleh, is a US citizen with Palestinian roots and previously worked for Al Jazera. Until 2010, her father -in -law was a consultant of Ismail Haniyeh, a leading member of Hamas, but both Suri and his lawyers emphasized that he had no close contact with him. Even if no official indictment against Suri has been levied, his visa remains withdrawn and he is obliged to live in Virginia and to personally appear on future hearings.

civil rights organizations criticize the measures of the Trump government as a targeted persecution of individuals with critical political statements, while concerns about increasing surveillance of foreign students and a possible restriction of freedom of expression are loud. This raises questions about the instrumentalized use of anti -Semitism allegations to exercise political pressure.

contextualization of anti -Semitism

These developments take place at the same time for a hearing in the US Congress, in which President of leading universities reported on the increase in anti-Semitic incidents since October 7, 2023. A survey by the anti-defamation League showed that over two thirds of Jewish students have experienced anti-Semitism since the beginning of the semester. Before October 7, around two thirds of the Jewish students felt safe; Then this number fell to almost half.