The United States has arrested a foreign researcher at Georgetown University on charges of spreading Hamas propaganda and promoting antisemitism on social media, marking the latest arrest in the academic field for antisemitism.
Indian-born researcher Badar Khan Suri was arrested last Monday, the newspaper reported Thursday. The Washington Post citing his lawyers.
Suri was transferred to a detention center in Alexandria, Louisiana, where he awaits an immigration court appearance, according to his lawyers, who have filed a lawsuit seeking his release.
For her part, Department of Homeland Security spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin wrote on social media that Suri is "an exchange student" at Georgetown. “who actively spread Hamas propaganda and promoted antisemitism on social media” and that he “has close ties” to a “senior Hamas advisor.”
According to Georgetown University's website, Suri, who is in the U.S. on a student visa, "is an interdisciplinary scholar whose areas of interest include religion, violence, and peace; ethnic conflict; and peace processes in the Middle East and South Asia."
Suri's arrest comes just days after U.S. immigration authorities detained former Columbia University student Mahmoud Khalil.
Khalil, a pro-Palestinian activist who holds a U.S. green card and has led student protests and mediated efforts to get Columbia to cut ties with Israel, was arrested on March 8 and remains detained in Louisiana after a federal judge temporarily blocked the Trump administration's deportation order.
Trump himself has accused Khalil and other pro-Palestinian activists of engaging in pro-terrorist, anti-Semitic, and anti-American activities.