Mahmoud Khalil, the Palestinian student at Columbia University: I am a political prisoner news

Mahmoud Khalil, a Palestinian graduate student at the American University of Colombia, described himself as a political prisoner in his first statements since his arrest on the pretext of his role in the protests supporting the Palestinians.

Reuters says that the administration of US President Donald Trump is seeking to deport Khalil, the permanent resident of the United States, while many human rights organizations have denounced the arrest of Khalil as an attack on freedom of expression and a violation of due legal procedures.

Meanwhile, more than 100 democratic legislators of the House of Representatives questioned the legality of detention in a letter of their face to the Trump administration.

The American Justice Lawyers say that Khalil, 30, is subject to deportation because Foreign Minister Marco Rubio decided that his presence in the United States may have “severe consequences for foreign policy,” he said.

According to Reuters, the Khalil case represents a test of the courts in how to draw the separation line between the freedom of expression guaranteed for citizens and residents alike under the first amendment to the American constitution, and the executive authority considering that some protests can undermine foreign policy.

Palestine free

“My name is Mahmoud Khalil, and I am a political prisoner,” Khalil said in a letter published on Tuesday. He added in the letter, “My arrest is a direct result of the practice of my right to freedom of expression, as I defended the (issue) of” free Palestine “and ending the genocide in Gaza, which resumed its full strength on Monday night,” referring to the renewed Israeli raids on Gaza, which local authorities said that they claimed the lives of more than 400 Palestinians.

Khalil’s lawyers called for his immediate release, knowing that he has become a permanent legal resident in the United States last year. And his wife is pregnant in her eighth month.

His detention on March 8th of this March sparked protests in various American cities, including New York on Tuesday when hundreds gathered in Times Square, demanding his release.

Racist hostile to the Palestinians

Trump pledged to deport pro -Palestinian activists who participated in protests on a university campus on the Israeli war on Gaza after the Palestinian Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) attack in October 2023.

Trump claimed that “the demonstrators are anti -Semitic and support Hamas militants.”

On the other hand, the Palestinian defenders, including some Jewish groups, say that their critics confused a mistake between criticizing the Israeli attack on Gaza and anti -Semitism, their support for Palestinian rights and the support of Hamas militants.

Khalil said in the letter that his arrest indicates racism hostile to the Palestinians.

At the end of its report, Reuters says that the US government did not explain how Khalil could harm US foreign policy. And he recalls that Trump accused him, without evidence, of supporting Hamas, while his legal team confirms that he has no connection to the Palestinian movement.