An Indian academic and visiting scholar at Georgetown University has recounted his harrowing experience that he faced at the Prairieland Detention Center in Texas since March. However, he was released from the Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility on Wednesday afternoon following a court order.
The scholar identified as Badar Khan Suri said “whole body was chained” and that he “even missed my shadow” during his incarceration.
He was held for nearly two months after plainclothes federal agents arrested him outside his Arlington, Virginia, home on March 17. Suri was accused of having links to Hamas, a Palestinian group that the United States officially designates as a terrorist organisation.
On Wednesday, US District Judge Patricia Giles in Alexandria, Virginia, ordered his immediate release and allowed him to return to his family on personal recognisance. In her ruling, Judge Giles stated that Suri’s detention violated his First Amendment right to free speech.
Recounting his experience, Suri said, “There was no charge, there was nothing,” adding, “They made a sub-human out of me.” He described the uncertainty he faced during the initial days in ICE custody, as he didn’t even know where he was being taken. “For the first seven, eight days, I even missed my shadow,” NBC News quoted him as saying.
“It was Kafka-esqe, where they were taking me, what they were doing to me. I was chained — my ankles, my wrist, my body. Everything was chained,” he recounted the horrific experience after getting out of the detention.
Badar Khan Suri described that inside the detention centre, the facilities as unhygienic. He added that he put an effort to raise these concerns with the ombudsman, but no response was received.
Suri mentioned that he was quite worried about his children’s well-being during his detention. “I had only worried that, Oh, my kids are suffering because of me. My eldest son is only nine, and my twins are only five,” Suri said, NBC News reported.
“My nine-year-old knows where I am. He was going through very rough times. My wife used to tell me that he was crying. He needs support from mental health,” he added. Reports confirmed that Khan Suri’s lawyers registered a ‘habeas corpus’ petition to counter the lawfulness of his detention.
Court records revealed that Suri, a former Jamia Millia Islamia student, was first held overnight at a Virginia detention centre before being transferred to Texas. Due to overcrowding in Virginia, he was later moved to a facility in Louisiana.
Last month, the US government sought to move the case out of Virginia, arguing that the habeas petition should be filed in the district where the detainee was being held. However, Judge Patricia Giles denied the request.
Protests Over Israel-Hamas Conflict
According to Georgetown University’s website, Suri was teaching a course titled “Majoritarianism and Minority Rights in South Asia” and holds a PhD in peace and conflict studies from India.
Since the early days of the Trump administration, immigration officials have detained several university students across the US, many of whom were involved in campus protests over the Israel-Hamas conflict. Suri is among the most recent to be released, alongside Rumeysa Ozturk, a Turkish student at Tufts University, and Mohsen Mahdawi, a Palestinian student from Columbia University.
Earlier, Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin claimed that Suri had “close connections to a known or suspected terrorist” and was allegedly spreading pro-Hamas content on campus.
Suri’s lawyer, Hassan Ahmad, stated in his petition that he was “being punished because of the Palestinian heritage of his wife, and because the government suspects that he and his wife oppose US foreign policy toward Israel”, as per Politico.
Suri’s father-in-law, Ahamed Yousef, previously served as a deputy foreign minister in the Hamas-led administration in Gaza. However, Suri’s familial connection cannot be held against him in the absence of concrete proof that he personally engaged in promoting Hamas propaganda on campus.
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