US judge bars deportation of Indian scholar Badar Khan Suri detained over ‘Hamas ties’

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) also alleged that Suri, a postdoctoral fellow at Georgetown University’s prestigious Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service, is detained in Louisiana, also spread Hamas propaganda and antisemitism on social media, posing a risk to American foreign policy.

Legal battle and rights groups’ response

Suri’s lawyer welcomed the ruling, calling it “the first bit of due process Dr. Khan Suri has received since he was snatched from his family Monday night,” Reuters reported. The lawyer had previously stated that Suri was being targeted for his pro-Palestinian views and his wife’s Palestinian heritage.

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) also defended Suri, stating he was “transferred to multiple immigration detention centers” before being moved to Alexandria, Louisiana.

Who Is Badar Khan Suri?

Born in India, Suri completed his PhD in Peace and Conflict Studies at Jamia Millia Islamia’s Nelson Mandela Center for Peace and Conflict Resolution in New Delhi in 2020. His doctoral thesis, Transitional Democracy, Divided Societies and Prospects for Peace: A Study of State Building in Afghanistan and Iraq, examined the challenges of democracy-building in conflict-ridden nations.

Suri has conducted extensive research in conflict zones, including Pakistan, Balochistan, Iran, Turkey, Syria, Lebanon, Egypt, and Palestine. His work focuses on religion, violence, peace, and ethnic conflicts, particularly in the Middle East and South Asia. His current project investigates barriers to cooperation in religiously diverse societies and explores solutions to these challenges.

Suri is in the US on a student visa and is married to an American citizen born in Gaza. His wife, Mapheze Saleh, holds a bachelor’s degree in journalism from the Islamic University of Gaza and a master’s degree from Jamia Millia Islamia in New Delhi.

Part of wider crackdown

The case comes amid the Trump administration’s broader crackdown on foreigners linked to pro-Palestinian protests against Israel’s war in Gaza. Civil rights and immigrant advocacy groups have accused the administration of misusing rarely invoked laws to suppress political dissent.

According to a Politico report citing court documents, the US government alleges Suri has connections with Hamas, a Palestinian group designated as a terrorist organization by the US and several other Western countries.

This development follows the Trump administration’s recent revocation of the student visa of Columbia University student Ranjani Srinivasan. Fearing arrest by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Srinivasan chose to “self-deport” on March 11.

Earlier this month, US authorities also arrested Columbia University student Mahmoud Khalil for participating in pro-Palestinian protests. Khalil, who was moved to Louisiana, is challenging his detention in court.

(With inputs from Reuters)