Judge orders Columbia protester Mahmoud Khalil freed
A federal judge ordered the US government to release Mahmud Khalil, a former student of Columbia University, from an immigration detention center since the beginning of March, and tried to deport the Trump administration on his role in pro -Palestinian protests.
US regional judge Michael Farbiarz said that the government would be “extremely unusual” to continue to detain a legal US resident who is not likely to escape and is not accused of any violence.
Later, the judge said that the government did not “openly meet” the government’s detention standards.
Khalil should deliver the passport and cannot travel internationally, but will take back the green card and allow official documents that allow limited travels within the country, including New York and Michigan, to visit the court, to visit New Jersey and Louisiana and to lobby the lobby of Washington.
Khalil was the first person to be arrested under the pressure of President Donald Trump against students participating in campus protests against Israel’s destructive war in Gaza.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that Khalil should be expelled from the country because his presence may damage American foreign policy.
Farbiarz had previously decided that the government could not deport Halil for these reasons, but he gave a gap to continue to deport a potential deportation based on allegations that he was lying in a green card application. This is an accusation Khalil disputes.
While making his decision on Friday, the judge acknowledged that Khalil’s lawyers and the protest leader were prevented from using his free speech and using the necessary process rights despite a clear reason for his detention.
Khalil’s wife Dr. Noor Abdalla said that after his husband was arrested for three months, he could “take a comfortable breath”.
“We know that this decision has not begun to deal with the injustices of Trump administration and many other people,” Khalil said in a statement. He said. “But today we are celebrating that Mahmoud returned to New York to reunite with our little family.”
Mohsen Mahdawi, a former Palestinian student in Columbia, a few other academicians who aim to activism, the judge’s decision; Rumeysa Ozturk, a student of TUFTS University; And a Georgetown University scholar Badar Khan Suri.
Khalil was detained in the apartment building in Manhattan on March 8 for participating in pro -Palestinian demonstrations.
International relations graduate student is not accused of breaking any law during protests in Columbia. He worked as a negotiator and spokesman for the student activists and was not among the demonstrators arrested, but his importance and the desire to speak in the public opinion made him the target of critics.
