Georgetown scholar recalls terror and 'mockery of due process' in immigration jail

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Georgetown scholar recalls terror and ‘mockery of due process’ in immigration jail[

The Associated Press
May 22, 2025, 8:55 PM



Badar Khan Suri, a Georgetown University scholar from India, speaks after he was released from immigration detention facility Wednesday, May 14, 2025, in Alvarado, Texas. (AP Photo/Kendria LaFleur)(AP/Kendria LaFleur)

ARLINGTON, Va. (AP) — One of the lowest moments of Badar Khan Suri’s two months in federal custody was being crammed onto an airplane with hundreds of other shackled prisoners…. The Trump administration was trying to deport the Georgetown University scholar over statements he made against Israel’s war in Gaza. The guards wouldn’t say where they were headed, but the Indian national was convinced it was out of the United States.

Then Khan Suri had to use the plane’s bathroom. He said the guards refused to unshackle his wrists. … “They said, ‘No, you have to use it like this or do it in your trousers,’” Khan Suri recalled of the trip, taking him to a Louisiana detention center. “They were behaving as if we were animals.”

Khan Suri, 41, was released on bond last week as his lawsuit against the U.S.’s deportation case continues. In an interview with The Associated Press, he spoke Thursday of a cramped cell, crowded with other detainees, where he waited anxiously, fearful about what would happen next.

He also addressed the Trump administration’s accusations that he spread “Hamas propaganda.” Khan Suri said he only spoke in support of Palestinians, who are going through an “unprecedented, livestreamed genocide.” … “I don’t support Hamas,” he said. “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.”

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