Detained student in US claims university laid groundwork for his 'abduction'

ISTANBUL

Mahmoud Khalil, a Columbia University student activist who led campus pro-Palestinian rallies and is now fighting the Trump administration's efforts to deport him, has called his March 8 arrest by immigration authorities an "abduction."

Titled “A Letter to Columbia,” the op-ed published in the Columbia Spectator on Saturday was verified by his attorney, according to the student newspaper.

He addressed the letter to "Columbia—an institution that laid the groundwork for my abduction—and to its student body, who must not abdicate their responsibility to resist repression."

"Since my abduction on March 8, the intimidation and kidnapping of international students who stand for Palestine has only accelerated," Khalil said in the opinion piece.

He named other students who have been arrested and are facing deportation, including Tufts University doctoral student Rumeysa Ozturk.

“The situation is oddly reminiscent of when I fled the brutality of Bashar al-Assad’s regime in Syria and sought refuge in Lebanon,” Khalil said.

He called out the role of Columbia university in the acceptance of the genocide in Gaza, placing the blame on the institution alongside “Zionist settler colonialism.”

“In the 18 months since the genocidal campaign in Gaza began, Columbia has not only refused to acknowledge the lives of Palestinians sacrificed for Zionist settler colonialism, but it has actively reproduced the language used to justify this killing,” Khalil said.

"Columbia has suppressed student dissent under the auspices of combating antisemitism," he wrote.

​​​​​​​Last week, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said over 300 student visas had been revoked, saying: “Every time I find one of these lunatics, I take away their visas."