BURSTA Georgetown University scholar detained in March by the Trump administration said his detainment served as a “mockery" of the rule of law.
Badar Khan Suri, 41, was released on bond last week after a federal judge determined he should not be removed from the country until the court can consider his legal challenge.
The postdoctoral student described his first week detained in Louisiana in an interview with The Associated Press.
“Same terror. Same fear. Same uncertainty. Same mockery of rule of law. Same mockery of due process,” Khan Suri said. “I was going more and more deeper, reaching to my abyss. And I was discovering that the abyss also has more and more depth.”
The Department of Homeland Security accused Khan Suri of having ties to Hamas through his father-in-law, Ahmed Yousef, who worked for the Hamas-backed government in Gaza in the early 2000s. However, Khan Suri’s attorneys said he barely has contact with the relative, adding that their client has not spoken out in support of the terrorist group.
“I don’t support Hamas. I support Palestine. I support Palestinians. And it is so deceiving for some people who just publish canards ... They will just replace Palestine with Hamas,” he told the AP while declining to speak about his father-in-law.
As a result of the allegations, Khan Suri has been separated from his son and confined in a facility where he has to use the bathroom in front of a camera monitor.
He is one of multiple foreign students whom the Trump administration has sought to remove or detain regarding statements tied to the war in Gaza.