By: Ali Abbas Ahmadi
An organiser of pro-Palestinian protests at Columbia University has been arrested by immigration officials as he attended an interview as part of his application for US citizenship, his lawyer says.
Mohsen Mahdawi, a green card holder who is due to graduate next month from the New York City college, was detained on Monday in Colchester, Vermont. His lawyer said Mr Mahdawi was taken into custody “in direct retaliation” for his role in campus demonstrations against the Israel-Gaza war.
Others who took part in campus protests against the war, including Columbia University’s Mahmoud Khalil and Tufts University’s Rumeysa Ozturk, have been detained.
The BBC has contacted US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) for more details on Mr Mahdawi’s case.
Video shared on social media apparently shows him being escorted into a car by two officers wearing police jackets.
His lawyer, Luna Droubi, said: “The Trump administration detained Mohsen Mahdawi in direct retaliation for his advocacy on behalf of Palestinians and because of his identity as a Palestinian. “His detention is an attempt to silence those who speak out against the atrocities in Gaza. It is also unconstitutional.” The attorney applied to a federal court for a temporary restraining order to prevent US immigration authorities moving Mr Mahdawi out of Vermont or expelling him from the US. Judge William Sessions, an Obama appointee, quickly granted that order. The court filing says Mr Mahdawi was born in a refugee camp in the West Bank and moved to the US in 2014.
It describes the philosophy major as a committed Buddhist who believes in “non-violence and empathy as a central tenet of his religion”. The whereabouts of Mr Mahdawi, who has held US permanent resident status since 2015, are unknown, according to Ms Droubi…Source: ctvnews.ca/lifestyle/
Saturday, April 25, 2026
