According to his employer and US officials, an Indian scholar with a valid visa at a prestigious American university has been arrested and faces expulsion on suspicion of having ties to Hamas. Badar Khan Suri, a postdoctoral fellow at Georgetown University in the US capital, was arrested two months into US President Donald Trump’s new term, raising concerns in the scientific community that research independence is being questioned.
The French government denounced the expulsion of a French space scientist who was scheduled to attend a symposium in Houston on Wednesday after authorities discovered “hateful” statements against US policies on his smartphone.
Georgetown University said in a statement, “Dr. Khan Suri, an Indian national, was duly granted a visa to enter the United States to continue his doctoral research on peacebuilding in Iraq and Afghanistan. He has not engaged in any unlawful action that we are aware of, and we have not been explained his imprisonment.
Politico, which broke the story first, said that Suri, a fellow at Georgetown’s Alwaleed Bin Talal Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding, was taken into custody Monday at his Arlington, Virginia, residence. An AFP request for comment was not immediately answered, but his lawyer told Politico he had asked his release.
Department of Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin claimed on X that Suri was “a Georgetown University foreign exchange student actively spreading Hamas propaganda and promoting anti-Semitism on social media. According to McLaughlin, he has “close connections to a known or suspected terrorist, who is a senior advisor to Hamas.”
Also Read:
Social Media Users are Urged by the UAE to Follow National Rules and Values
Vance States That a “High-Level” TikTok Deal is Anticipated by the Deadline
About Author
