{"id":1410,"date":"2025-05-03T12:57:26","date_gmt":"2025-05-03T12:57:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thetoptenwebhosts.com\/?p=1410"},"modified":"2025-05-06T13:44:11","modified_gmt":"2025-05-06T13:44:11","slug":"palestinian-student-mohsen-mahdawi-calls-release-a-victory-for-democracy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/thetoptenwebhosts.com\/index.php\/2025\/05\/03\/palestinian-student-mohsen-mahdawi-calls-release-a-victory-for-democracy\/","title":{"rendered":"Palestinian student Mohsen Mahdawi calls release \u2018a victory for democracy\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

Columbia University student and pro-Palestinian activist Mohsen Mahdawi called his recent release<\/a> from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention a \u201cvictory for democracy.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Mahdawi recounted the day he was detained<\/a> by federal immigration authorities in mid-April while he was at a naturalization interview to become a U.S. citizen.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Department of Homeland Security\u2019s plan did not go smoothly, as we missed the flight to Louisiana by minutes,” he wrote in an op-ed published by The New York Times<\/a> on Friday. “Those few minutes changed the course of my legal case and, ultimately, led to my freedom from detention because I was able to fight for my rights on fair ground.” <\/p>\n

\u201cUnlike other students who continue to languish in Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody, I\u2019ve been afforded the \u2018privilege\u2019 to seek justice while not in prison,\u201d Mahdawi added.\u00a0<\/p>\n

He was released<\/a> from detention on Wednesday after U.S. District Judge Geoffrey Crawford said it was in the public’s interest for the student, a green card holder, to be freed. He was being held in the Northwest State Correctional Facility in St. Albans, Vt.<\/p>\n

Mahdawi is the first international student<\/a> to be released from custody amid President Trump’s crackdown on immigration and perceived retribution<\/a> for pro-Palestinian demonstrations on college campuses. The White House has looked to deport him and other protestors<\/a>, arguing they are actively undermining<\/a> U.S. foreign policy.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In his op-ed, the student said he “never lost hope.”<\/p>\n

\u201cDespite spending 16 nights in a jail cell, I never lost hope in the inevitability of justice and the principles of democracy,” Mahdawi wrote. “I wanted to become a citizen of this country because I believe in the principles that it enshrines.”<\/p>\n

He added that his freedom is \u201cintertwined with the freedom of the other students, who exercised the same free speech rights as I did yet languish in jail, and is intertwined with that of the Palestinians, who are fighting for their right to life and justice, too.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Mahdawi also argued that by attempting to deport him, the Trump administration’s message is that there is no \u201croom for dissent, free speech be damned.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt seems willing to shield an extremist Israeli government from criticism at the expense of constitutional rights, all while suppressing the possibility of a peaceful future for both Palestinians and Israelis, a future free of trauma and fear,\u201d the Columbia University student said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

During another recent interview,<\/a> Mahdawi said the U.S. is the first country where he has experienced freedom. In Friday’s piece, he noted that those same liberties are under \u201cattack\u201d today.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cOnce the repression of dissent, in the name of security, becomes a key objective of a government, authoritarian rule and even martial law are not far off,\u201d Mahdawi wrote.<\/p>\n

The student added, \u201cWhen they look at my case, all Americans should ask themselves: What is left of our democracy, and who will be targeted next?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Columbia University student and pro-Palestinian activist Mohsen Mahdawi called his recent release from Immigration and…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1412,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[9],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/thetoptenwebhosts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1410"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/thetoptenwebhosts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/thetoptenwebhosts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thetoptenwebhosts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thetoptenwebhosts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1410"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/thetoptenwebhosts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1410\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1411,"href":"http:\/\/thetoptenwebhosts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1410\/revisions\/1411"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thetoptenwebhosts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1412"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/thetoptenwebhosts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1410"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thetoptenwebhosts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1410"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thetoptenwebhosts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1410"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}