Mahmoud Khalil, a former Columbia University student who was one of the most visible leaders of nationwide pro-Palestinian campus protests, was released from a federal detention centre. Khalil, a legal permanent resident in the United States who is married to a US citizen and has a US-born son, has been in custody since March, facing potential deportation. 

“This shouldn’t have taken three months,” Khalil, wearing a Palestinian keffiyeh scarf, told US media outside an immigration detention center in Jena, Louisiana, hours after a federal judge ordered his release. “(President Donald) Trump and his administration they chose the wrong person for this,” he said. “There’s no right person who should be detained for actually protesting a genocide.” 

The Department of Homeland Security criticised District Judge Michael Farbiarz’s ruling as an example of how “out of control members of the judicial branch are undermining our national security.” Under the terms of his release, Khalil will not be allowed to leave the United States except for “self-deportation,” and faces restrictions on where he can travel within the country. Khalil’s wife, Michigan-born dentist Noor Abdalla, said her family could now “finally breathe a sigh of relief and know that Maumoud is on his way home.”

 “We know this ruling does not begin to address the injustices the Trump administration has brought upon our family and so many others the government is trying to silence for speaking out against Israel’s ongoing genocide against Palestinians,” added Abdalla, who gave birth to the couple’s first child while her husband was in detention. 

Credit: Independent News Pakistan (INP)