Georgetown University responds after researcher held on allegations of Hamas connections

Federal judge orders that Badar Khan Suri ‘not be removed from the US’

Badar Khan Suri and Mapheze Saleh have come under intense scrutiny amid the detention and possible deportation of Mr Suri. Photo: Georgetown University

Georgetown University in Washington said that it expects the legal system to "adjudicate fairly" after one of its post-doctoral research fellows was detained by immigration officials this week due to alleged connections to Hamas.

As of Thursday evening, a federal judge has ordered that research fellow "not be removed from the United States until the court issues a contrary order."

Badar Khan Suri, an Indian citizen studying in the US, was recently detained by Department of Homeland Security agents at his home in Virginia. DHS said in a statement that Mr Suri "has close connections to a known or suspected terrorist, who is a senior adviser to Hamas", and that Secretary of State Marco Rubio had determined that the scholar's activities "rendered him deportable".

In a statement provided to The National on Thursday, a Georgetown representative said that the university was not aware of Mr Suri engaging in any illegal activity.

He was granted a visa to enter the US to continue his doctoral research on building peace in Iraq and Afghanistan, according to the statement. "We have not received a reason for his detention. We support our community members' rights to free and open inquiry, deliberation and debate, even if the underlying ideas may be difficult, controversial or objectionable," the university said.

In a post on X, DHS spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin claimed that Mr Suri was "actively spreading Hamas propaganda and promoting anti-Semitism on social media".

Hassan Ahmad, Mr Khan's lawyer, said he spoke with his client after his arrest.

“Our government just abducted a man from his wife and children because one person didn’t like the fact that he acknowledged the humanity of Palestinians. That should shock every single American," he said in a statement to The National. "According to the immigration charging document, his presence in the United States is bad for foreign policy. If this is the guy our government thinks is a problem, then the problem is the government.”

On the BlueSky social media platform, Mr Ahmad reshared a message posted by another lawyer, which read: "Free Mahmoud Khalil, Free Badar Khan Suri."

Mr Suri's detention follows a series of arrests by immigration authorities of students involved in pro-Palestine activism, including Mr Khalil, a Columbia University graduate who has been active in protests against the Israel-Gaza war.

Georgetown University's campus in Washington. (AP Photo / Jacquelyn Martin, File)

Politico reported that Mr Suri's legal team alluded in court to the "Palestinian heritage of his wife", Mapheze Saleh, a US citizen who is listed as a member of Georgetown's class of 2026.

"Mapheze, a first-year student from Gaza, earned her bachelor’s degree in journalism and information at the Islamic University of Gaza, Palestine, and a master’s degree in conflict analysis and peace-building from the Nelson Mandela Centre for Peace and Conflict Resolution at Jamia Millia Islamia in New Delhi, India," reads a biography of Ms Saleh on Georgtown's Centre for Contemporary Arab Studies website.

In February, the Israeli embassy in the US posted on X that Ms Saleh was "the daughter of a Hamas senior adviser".

Despite ample criticism, the US administration of President Donald Trump appears to be undeterred in efforts to increase deportations.

There are fears for due process and civil liberties over the increased scrutiny of people's social media presence, including photos they may have liked, and the various stories and posts they may have shared.

Helyeh Doutaghi, a Yale Law School scholar, claims the university wrongly suspended her after a website that uses artificial intelligence published a story accusing her of being a supporter of a US-designated terror group.

JewishOnliner, the site at the centre of that controversy, describes itself as “your online hub for insights, investigations, data and exposes about issues impacting the Jewish community", and says it is "empowered by AI capabilities".

Ms Doutaghi said that Yale Law School legal representatives either "knowingly relied on Al-fabricated claims or simply chose wilful ignorance" to expedite her suspension.

A Yale representative later said that it was following an appropriate process "to place an employee on a temporary administrative leave while a review is conducted to understand the facts of the matter".