NEW YORK: Federal immigration authorities denied Mahmoud Khalil’s request for a temporary release from detention to attend the birth of his first child, who was born Monday in New York, according to emails shared with The Associated Press.
Khalil, a Columbia University activist who has been held in a detention center in Jena, Louisiana for six weeks, requested a two-week furlough on Sunday morning, noting that his wife, Dr. Noor Abdalla, had gone into labor eight days earlier than expected.
His lawyers said he would be “open to any combination of conditions” to allow the release, including wearing an ankle monitor and attending regularly scheduled check-ins with immigration authorities.
Around 30 minutes later, Mellissa B. Harper, the New Orleans Field Office Director for US Immigrations and Customs, wrote back: “After consideration of the submitted information and a review of your client’s case, your request for furlough is denied.”
Abdalla said she had to give birth to a baby boy on Monday in New York without her husband by her side, which she called “a purposeful decision by ICE to make me, Mahmoud, and our son suffer.”
“My son and I should not be navigating his first days on earth without Mahmoud,” she added. “ICE and the Trump administration have stolen these precious moments from our family in an attempt to silence Mahmoud’s support for Palestinian freedom.”
A message seeking comment was left with ICE officials.
Khalil is a legal permanent US resident and graduate student who served as spokesperson for campus activists last year during large demonstrations at Columbia against Israel’s treatment of Palestinians and the war in Gaza.
He was detained by federal agents in the lobby of his Manhattan apartment on March 8, the first arrest in President Donald Trump’s crackdown on pro-Palestinian activists.
The Trump administration has not accused Khalil of criminal conduct, but has argued he should be expelled from the country for his beliefs.
An immigration judge in Louisiana ruled earlier this month that the government’s assertion that Khalil’s presence in the US posed “potentially serious foreign policy consequences” satisfied requirements for deportation.
A lawyer for Khalil said the ruling will be appealed to the Board of Immigration Appeals.
Palestinian protest leader Mahmoud Khalil detained by US misses son’s birth
https://arab.news/4n4qj
Palestinian protest leader Mahmoud Khalil detained by US misses son’s birth
- Trump’s advisers have accused pro-Palestinian protesters of promoting anti-Semitism and terrorism, charges the activists deny
UN’s top court opens Myanmar Rohingya genocide case
- The Gambia filed a case against Myanmar at the UN’s top court in 2019
- Verdict expected to impact Israel’s genocide case over war on Gaza
DHAKA: The International Court of Justice on Monday opened a landmark case accusing Myanmar of genocide against its mostly Muslim Rohingya minority.
The Gambia filed a case against Myanmar at the UN’s top court in 2019, two years after a military offensive forced hundreds of thousands of Rohingya from their homes into neighboring Bangladesh.
The hearings will last three weeks and conclude on Jan. 29.
“The ICJ must secure justice for the persecuted Rohingya. This process should not take much longer, as we all know that justice delayed is justice denied,” said Asma Begum, who has been living in the Kutupalong refugee camp in Bangladesh’s Cox’s Bazar district since 2017.
A mostly Muslim ethnic minority, the Rohingya have lived for centuries in Myanmar’s western Rakhine state but were stripped of their citizenship in the 1980s and have faced systemic persecution ever since.
In 2017 alone, some 750,000 of them fled military atrocities and crossed to Bangladesh, in what the UN has called a textbook case of ethnic cleansing by Myanmar.
Today, about 1.3 million Rohingya shelter in 33 camps in Cox’s Bazar, turning the coastal district into the world’s largest refugee settlement.
“We experienced horrific acts such as arson, killings and rape in 2017, and fled to Bangladesh,” Begum told Arab News.
“I believe the ICJ verdict will pave the way for our repatriation to our homeland. The world should not forget us.”
A UN fact-finding mission has concluded that the Myanmar 2017 offensive included “genocidal acts” — an accusation rejected by Myanmar, which said it was a “clearance operation” against militants.
Now, there is hope for justice and a new future for those who have been displaced for years.
“We also have the right to live with dignity. I want to return to my homeland and live the rest of my life in my ancestral land. My children will reconnect with their roots and be able to build their own future,” said Syed Ahmed, who fled Myanmar in 2017 and has since been raising his four children in the Kutupalong camp.
“Despite the delay, I am optimistic that the perpetrators will be held accountable through the ICJ verdict. It will set a strong precedent for the world.”
The Myanmar trial is the first genocide case in more than a decade to be taken up by the ICJ. The outcome will also impact the genocide case that Israel is facing over its war on Gaza.
“The momentum of this case at the ICJ will send a strong message to all those (places) around the world where crimes against humanity have been committed,” Nur Khan, a Bangladeshi lawyer and human rights activist, told Arab News.
“The ICJ will play a significant role in ensuring justice regarding accusations of genocide in other parts of the world, such as the genocide and crimes against humanity committed by Israel against the people of Gaza.”
