The arrest happens after US President Donald Trump has said that students from abroad participating in so -called illegal demonstrations in the United States will be sent out of the country. Palestinian Mahmoud Khalil has been a leader of the protest movement that originated at the Columbia University of New York. He has a permanent residence permit in the United States. Khahil was arrested on Saturday by officers from the Ministry of Domestic Security (DHS), according to the Association Student Workers of Columbia. Mahmoud Khalil talks to the media about Revolt for the Rafah camp at Columbia University, June 1, 2024. Photo: Jeenah Moon / Reuters Lawyer and Freedom of Expression Expert Anine Kierulf believes the arrest appears disturbing. “The detention is suitable for scareing other foreign students from using the constitutional freedom of speech and demonstration they have, and for which Trump claims he is a strong defender for,” she told news. The arrest on orders from the Government The arrest takes place following orders from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs that Khalil is deprived of the student visa. Khalil’s lawyer Amy Greer has been informed by the authorities. When the lawyer said that Khalil has a permanent residence permit, a so -called green card, she was told that they would then deprive him of it instead, Greer told the Associated Press news agency. The arrest is “in line with President Trump’s presidential order who prohibits anti -Semitism,” says a spokesman for the Ministry of Domestic Security. A protector is waving a flag at Campus at Columbia University in New York, April 29, 2024. The student protests at Columbia University were considered the epicenter of the demonstrations against the war in Gaza at US universities in the spring last year. Khalil was raised in Syria and took a master’s degree in international politics last semester. On behalf of the student protesters, he negotiated with the university to close the tent camp at the school last spring. The Trump administration claims that those who participated in the protests have released the right to be in the United States by supporting Hamas. These video from Twitter will show the storming of Hamilton Hall, which houses parts of the Columbia College administration. Anine Kierulf believes the custody raises more questions. Among other things, whether Khalil was suspected or charged with something criminal. Anine Kierulf, special advisor at the Norwegian Institution for Human Rights and Associate Professor at UiO. Photo: Mirwais Moquim / news – He is accused of activities “Aligned to Hamas”, but the authorities do not respond to what lies in this and how it relates to such material support that anti -terror law prohibits. “Until these questions may have been answered in a rule of law satisfactory, this appears disturbing,” she continues. Must have threatened Khalil’s pregnant wife, according to Khalil’s lawyer Amy Greer, the officers must also have threatened to arrest Khalil’s wife, an American citizen pregnant for the eighth month. Greer says they were first told that Khalil is at a New Jersey detention center, but that he was not there when his wife tried to visit him on Sunday. On Sunday night she did not know where he is. Student protesters gather in the camp at Columbia University, April 29, 2024. Photo: Stefan Jeremiah / Ap – We have not been able to get more details on why he is arrested. This is a clear escalation. The administration follows up her threats, she tells Ap. Foreign Minister Marco Rubio writes in a comment on X that the Trump administration will “take a visa and/or green cards from Hamas support players in the United States so that they can be deported”. Interested in foreign? Hear more from news’s foreign editorial: Published 10.03.2025, at. 09.10 Updated 10.03.2025, at. 09.52
ttn-69
