Indian researcher in US faces deportation over ‘Hamas links’

An Indian student enrolled as a postdoctoral fellow in the US faces deportation after federal authorities said he was “spreading Hamas propaganda” and has “close connections to a suspected terrorist”, who is a senior adviser to the group.

Badar Khan Suri is a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Alwaleed Bin Talal Centre for Muslim-Christian Understanding at the Edmund A Walsh School of Foreign Service, Georgetown University, Washington, DC.

A senior Department of Homeland Security spokesperson said Suri, a foreign exchange student at Georgetown University, was “actively spreading Hamas propaganda and promoting antisemitism on social media”.

“Suri has close connections to a known or suspected terrorist, who is a senior adviser to Hamas. The Secretary of State issued a determination on March 15 that Suri’s activities in the US rendered him deportable,” he added.

A report in Politico said Suri has been “detained by federal immigration authorities amid the Trump administration’s crackdown on student activists whom the government accuses of opposing American foreign policy”.