US judge orders release of Indian researcher detained over alleged Hamas ties

WASHINGTON: A US judge ordered the release from custody on Wednesday of an Indian researcher at a top American university who is facing possible deportation for alleged Hamas ties.

Badar Khan Suri, a postdoctoral fellow at Georgetown University in the US capital, was arrested by federal agents two months ago at his home in Virginia and has been held in Texas.

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District Judge Patricia Giles ordered Suri’s immediate release on Wednesday and that he be allowed to return from Texas to his wife and three children in Virginia on his personal recognisance.

“Hearing the judge’s words brought tears to my eyes,” Suri’s wife, Mapheze Saleh, said in a statement released by the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR), which is among the groups representing her husband in court.

“Speaking out about what’s happening in Palestine is not a crime,” Saleh said. “Let’s show the world that this country is still a place where people can and do express their beliefs without fear.”

Giles, in ordering Suri’s release, said his detention violated his First Amendment rights to free speech.

“The court’s order today should send a clear message to the Trump administration that it cannot arrest someone, rip them away from their family, and incarcerate them just for standing in solidarity with Palestinians and against the genocide in Gaza,” said Astha Sharma Pokharel, an attorney at the CCR.

Suri’s release comes several days after another judge ordered the release from custody of Rumeysa Ozturk, a Turkish Ph.D student at Tufts University in Massachusetts, who was detained in another high-profile case.

The arrests of Suri, Ozturk and others have sparked fears in the academic world that freedom of research and speech is being challenged under Republican President Donald Trump.

Tricia McLaughlin, a Department of Homeland Security spokeswoman, said on X at the time of Suri’s arrest that he was “actively spreading Hamas propaganda and promoting anti-Semitism on social media.”

McLaughlin also accused him of having “close connections to a known or suspected terrorist, who is a senior advisor to Hamas.”

According to The New York Times, Saleh, Suri’s wife, is the daughter of Ahmed Yousef, a former adviser to assassinated Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh.

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McLaughlin said Suri was subject to deportation under a provision of immigration law that allows for expulsion if the visa holder’s presence in the United States is determined to threaten US foreign policy.