BOSTON: A lawyer for a Turkish national and doctoral student at Tufts University who was detained by US Department of Homeland Security agents filed an emergency motion Thursday requesting that the government produce her.
The request was made a day after Rumeysa Ozturk, 30, was stopped by masked federal agents after she left her home in Somerville, Massachusetts. A federal judge presiding over her case ordered lawyers representing the government to respond to the motion Thursday morning.
Video obtained by The Associated Press appears to show six people, their faces covered, taking away Ozturk’s phone as she yells and is handcuffed on Wednesday.
“We’re the police,” members of the group are heard saying in the video.
A bystander is heard asking, “Why are you hiding your faces?”
US District Judge Indira Talwani initially issued an order giving the government until Friday to answer why Ozturk was being detained. Talwani also ordered that Ozturk not be moved outside the District of Massachusetts without 48 hours advance notice.
The US Immigration and Custom Enforcement said Thursday that Ozturk was being held at a detention center in Basile, Louisiana, and has spoken to her lawyer. A senior Department of Homeland Security spokesperson also confirmed Ozturk’s detention and the termination of her visa.
“DHS and (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) investigations found Ozturk engaged in activities in support of Hamas, a foreign terrorist organization that relishes the killing of Americans. A visa is a privilege, not a right. Glorifying and supporting terrorists who kill Americans is grounds for visa issuance to be terminated. This is common sense security,” the spokesperson told the AP.
The DHS did not provide examples of Ozturk’s support of Hamas, which is designated by the US government as a terrorist organization.
The arrest appears to be part of President Donald Trump’s pledge to deport students who, he said, engage in “pro-terrorist, anti-Semitic, anti-American activity,” applying it broadly to those who criticize Israel and protest its military campaign in Gaza.
Hamas’ invaded Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking about 250 hostages. Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed over 50,000 people, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, and destroyed much of the enclave.
Ozturk, who is Muslim, was meeting friends for iftar, a meal that breaks a fast at sunset during Ramadan, her attorney, Mahsa Khanbabai said.
She said no charges have been filed against Ozturk.
“We are in touch with local, state, and federal elected officials and hope that Rumeysa is provided the opportunity to avail herself of her due process rights,” Tufts University President Sunil Kumar said in a statement Wednesday night. “The university is actively working to support the Tufts community as it mobilizes its collective resources and contacts to ensure our students’ safety and wellbeing.”
Ozturk was one of four students last March who wrote an op-ed in The Tufts Daily criticizing the university’s response to student demands that Tufts “acknowledge the Palestinian genocide,” disclose its investments and divest from companies with direct or indirect ties to Israel.
After the op-ed was published, Ozturk’s name, photograph and work history were published on the website Canary Mission, a website that describes itself as documenting people who “promote hatred of the USA., Israel and Jews on North American college campuses.”
Friends of Ozturk’s say she did not play a prominent role in campus protests that erupted last spring against the Israel’s military in Gaza.
“There’s a very important distinction between writing a letter supporting the student senate and taking the kind of action they’re accusing her of, which I’ve seen no evidence of,” said Jennifer Hoyden, a friend and former classmate of Ozturk’s at Columbia University’s Teachers College.
“She came to this country seeking to expand her knowledge and contribute to a peaceful society,” Hoyden added. “I cannot stress enough how peaceful and kind and gentle she is as a human being.”
Lawyer for Turkish student at Tufts University detained by feds calls for government to produce her
https://arab.news/4et9t
Lawyer for Turkish student at Tufts University detained by feds calls for government to produce her
- The request was made a day after Rumeysa Ozturk, 30, was stopped by masked federal agents after she left her home in Somerville
- A federal judge presiding over her case ordered lawyers representing the government to respond to the motion Thursday morning
EU leaders work into the night to ease Belgian fears of Russian retaliation over a loan to Ukraine
BRUSSELS: European Union leaders worked into the night on Thursday, seeking to reassure Belgium that they would provide guarantees to protect it from Russian retaliation if it backs a massive loan for Ukraine. Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky meanwhile pleaded for a quick decision to keep Ukraine afloat in the new year.
At a summit in Brussels with high stakes for both the EU and Ukraine, leaders of the 27-nation bloc discussed how best to use tens of billions of euros in frozen Russian assets to underwrite a loan to meet Ukraine’s military and financial needs over the next two years.
The bulk of the assets — some 193 billion euros as of September — are held in the Brussels-based financial clearing house Euroclear. Russia’s Central Bank launched a lawsuit against Euroclear last week.
“Give me a parachute and we’ll all jump together,” Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever told lawmakers ahead of the summit. “If we have confidence in the parachute that shouldn’t be a problem.”
Belgian concerns over Russian pressure
Belgium fears that Russia will strike back and wants the bloc to borrow the money on international markets. It says frozen assets held in other European countries should be thrown into the pot as well, and that its partners should guarantee that Euroclear will have the funds it needs should it come under legal attack.
An estimated 25 billion euros in Russian assets are frozen in banks and financial institutions in other EU countries, including France, Germany and Luxembourg.
The Russian Central Bank’s lawsuit ramped up pressure on Belgium and its EU partners ahead of the summit.
The “reparations loan” plan would see the EU lend 90 billion euros to Ukraine. Countries like the United Kingdom, which said Thursday it is prepared to share the risk, as well as Canada and Norway would help make up any shortfall.
Russia’s claim to the assets would still stand, but the assets would remain locked away at least until the Kremlin ends its war on Ukraine and pays for the massive damage it caused.
In mapping out the loan plan, the European Commission set up safeguards to protect Belgium, but De Wever remained unconvinced and EU envoys were working late on Thursday to address his concerns.
Zelensky describes it as a moral question
Soon after arriving in Brussels, the Ukrainian president sat down with the Belgian prime minister to make his case for freeing up the frozen funds. The war-ravaged country is at risk of bankruptcy and needs new money by spring.
“Ukraine has the right to this money because Russia is destroying us, and to use these assets against these attacks is absolutely just,” Zelensky told a news conference.
In an appeal to Belgian citizens who share their leader’s worries about retaliation, Zelensky said: “One can fear certain legal steps in courts from the Russian Federation, but it’s not as scary as when Russia is at your borders.”
“So while Ukraine is defending Europe, you must help Ukraine,” he said.
Allies maintain support for Ukraine
Whatever method they use, the leaders have pledged to meet most of Ukraine’s needs in 2026 and 2027. The International Monetary Fund estimates that would amount to 137 billion euros .
“We have to find a solution today,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen told reporters. EU Council President António Costa, who is chairing the meeting, vowed to keep leaders negotiating until an agreement is reached, even if it takes days.
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said it was a case of sending “either money today or blood tomorrow” to help Ukraine.
If enough countries object, the plan could be blocked. There is no majority support for a plan B of raising the funds on international markets, although that too was being discussed at the summit.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said that he hopes Belgium’s concerns can be addressed.
“The reactions of the Russian president in recent hours show how necessary this is. In my view, this is indeed the only option. We are basically faced with the choice of using European debt or Russian assets for Ukraine, and my opinion is clear: We must use the Russian assets.”
Hungary and Slovakia oppose a reparations loan. Apart from Belgium, Bulgaria, Italy and Malta are also undecided.
“I would not like a European Union in war,” said Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, who sees himself as a peacemaker. He’s also Russian President Vladimir Putin’s closest ally in Europe. “To give money means war.”
Orbán described the loan plan as a “dead end.”
High stakes for the EU
The outcome of the summit has significant ramifications for Europe’s place in negotiations to end the war. The United States wants assurances that the Europeans are intent on supporting Ukraine financially and backing it militarily — even as negotiations to end the war drag on without substantial results.
The loan plan in particular also poses important challenges to the way the bloc goes about its business. Should a two-thirds majority of EU leaders decide to impose the scheme on Belgium, which has most to lose, the impact on decision-making in Europe would be profound.
The EU depends on consensus, and finding voting majorities and avoiding vetoes in the future could become infinitely more complex if one of the EU’s founding members is forced to weather an attack on its interests by its very own partners.
De Wever too must weigh whether the cost of holding out against a majority is worth the hit his government’s credibility would take in Europe.
Whatever is decided, the process does not end at this summit. Legal experts would have to convert any political deal into a workable agreement, and some national parliaments may have to weigh in before the loan money could start flowing to Ukraine.
