Khalil is the graduate student of Columbia University that the Trump administration seeks to expel its role in pro-Palestinian demonstrations.
Mahmoud Khalil, the student graduated from Columbia University that the Trump administration seeks to expel his role in pro-Palestinian demonstrations, qualified as “political prisoner” in his first direct comments since his Stop.
Khalil, a Palestinian student activist, was arrested on March 8 by the Department of Internal Security (DHS) after he and his pregnant wife, Noor Abdalla – An American citizen – returned from a dinner.
In a Letter made public Tuesday, Khalil decreed his Stop And the conditions faced by detainees in immigration facilities in the United States.
“My name is Mahmoud Khalil and I am a political prisoner. I write to you in a detention center in Louisiana, where I wake up on cold mornings and I spend long days testifying to the silent injustices in progress against a large number of people who prevented the protections of the law,” wrote Khalil. He added that “the agents threatened to stop it [Noor] for not having left my side ”.
He was placed in police custody without a mandate, and the DHS agents hid details on his arrest, according to images of the arrest which was made public by his family last Friday.
In his letter, Khalil wrote: “The DHS would not tell me anything … I did not know the cause of my arrest or if I faced an immediate expulsion.”
His lawyer Amy Greer said Khalil is a legal permanent American resident. Experts have stressed that it is rare that holders of green cards are threatened with expulsion, except in the event of serious crimes.
In April 2024, students from the United States mobilized Require the end of the complicity of their universities in the War of Israel against Gaza.
The demonstrations of Columbia University in New York drew particularly close attention from the media due to the size of the demonstrations.
Trump’s fierce reaction
The Trump administration accused Khalil, who played a key role in pro-Palestinian demonstrations at the university last year, of engaging in activities aligned on Hamas, although no evidence has been provided.
Donald Trump has demonstrators of accused students From the University of Columbia to participate in “pro-terrorist, anti-Semitic and anti-American activity”. Again, no evidence has been proposed to support complaints.
Khalil said his arrest was a direct result of his activism for a free Palestine and the end of Israeli violence in Gaza.
“My arrest was a direct consequence of the exercise of my right to freedom of expression when I pleaded for a free Palestine and the end of the genocide in Gaza, which resumed in full strength Monday evening, ”he wrote in the letter.
Khalil has also established parallels between his situation and the use of administrative detention by Israel, where the Palestinians are often imprisoned without trial or accusation.
“For Palestinians, imprisonment without regular procedure is common.”
He refused to be constrained in silence and said: “It is our moral imperative to persist in the struggle for their total freedom”.
“I hope to be free to see the birth of my firstborn.”
