Wife of Badar Khan Suri, arrested in US, says husband has no links to Hamas

Charges against scholar

Suri was arrested outside of his apartment building in Rosslyn, Virginia, charged with removability and detained on Monday (March 17) night. He has since been held at a detention centre in Louisiana, pending hearing before an Immigration Court for his deportation.

Also read: Indian student Badar Khan Suri not to be deported from US, judge orders

The DHS has alleged that Suri was “spreading Hamas propaganda” and also had connections with the Palestinian group, designated as a terror organisation in the US; a claim strongly contested by his attorneys. The Immigration and Nationality Act, under whose provisions Suri has been arrested, grants wide powers to the US Secretary of State to initiate deportation proceedings against non-citizens who are deemed a potential threat to US security or foreign policy interests.

‘Unlawful arrest’

In their complaint against Suri’s “unlawful arrest”, the Georgetown University scholar’s attorneys have argued that he was detained pursuant to the newly-installed Donald Trump administration’s “policy to retaliate against and punish non-citizens… solely for their family ties to those who may have expressed criticism of US foreign policy as it relates to Israel”.

The complaint adds further that the DHS’s action following Suri’s arrest of whisking him “1,600 miles away in the same manner as the government did in the case of Mr. Mahmoud Khalil, isolating him from his wife, children, community and legal team, are plainly intended as retaliation and punishment for Mr. Suri's protected speech.” Mahmoud Khalil, a student at Columbia University, was also arrested earlier this month and moved to Louisiana on charges similar to the ones invoked against Suri and has, since, challenged his detention.

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‘Arrest solely because of Palestinian wife’

The attorneys have maintained that Suri’s arrest was solely due to the Palestinian heritage of his wife, Maphaz Saleh. Maphaz is a US citizen of Palestinian descent and her father, Ahmed Yousef, had once served as adviser within Gaza’s political structure, a position he quit years ago. Suri and Maphaz had met when the former was in Palestine in 2010 as part of a solidarity visit.

On Thursday, though, Judge Patricia Giles of the Eastern District of Virginia Court ordered that Suri, whose wife is a Palestinian American in the US, “shall not be removed from the United States unless and until the court issues a contrary order.” Suri has no known criminal record and has not been charged with any offense as yet following his detention.

Suri’s not the only case

Judge Giles’ order, according to Suri’s legal team in the US, was “the first bit of due process” he had received “since he was snatched from his family Monday night.” Meanwhile, Georgetown University too has stood by Suri, saying in a statement that it was “unaware of any illegal activity” on part of the postdoctoral fellow.

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In a telephonic conversation with The Federal, Maphaz, who denied the DHS’ allegations of her husband’s links to Hamas and his involvement in spreading pro-Palestine propaganda in the US, also clarified that Suri had “no association with my father in a professional capacity”, during or after Yousef’s stint as adviser to the Palestinian authorities in Gaza.

The detained scholar’s legal team told The Federal that though “ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) detentions are not new”, Suri’s case, close on the heels of similar arrests like Khalil’s, raises broader questions about immigration enforcement and excessive curbs on the freedom of political expression.

Scrutiny on basis of ideology

“The Trump administration is increasingly scrutinising individuals like Dr Suri based on perceived ideological positions. This case is part of a broader pattern of increased scrutiny of non-citizens based on their political associations and viewpoints,” said Suri’s attorney, Nermeen Arastu.

Back in India, The Federal also spoke to Suri’s friends who expressed shock at his detention and asserted that he did not share any “radical ideology” nor was associated, even distantly, with Hamas or any other Palestinian group.

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“Suri is my friend and classmate. He’s married to a Palestinian woman, Maphaz, whom he met during a solidarity march to Palestine in 2010. The march was significant – people from various backgrounds joined, crossing multiple borders in support of Palestine. Among them were individuals like (Congress MP) Jairam Ramesh’s son, actress Swara Bhaskar, journalist Ajit Sahi, as well as members of Left parties, trade unions, and Gandhian and socialist circles,” Amir Sherwani Khan, Suri’s classmate at Delhi’s Jamia Millia Islamia University told The Federal.

Research took him to conflict zones

Suri pursued his advanced studies at Jamia, where he earned his PhD in Peace and Conflict Studies in 2020 from the Nelson Mandela Centre for Peace and Conflict Resolution. His doctoral research, 'Transitional Democracy, Divided Societies, and Prospects for Peace: A Study of State Building in Afghanistan and Iraq', examined the challenges of state-building in conflict-affected regions. His wife, Maphaz, holds a bachelor's degree in journalism and information from the Islamic University of Gaza and a master’s degree from Jamia.

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Suri’s research has taken him to conflict zones across Pakistan, Iran, Turkey, Kurdish regions within Turkey, Syria, Lebanon, Egypt, and Palestine. His academic focus includes religion, violence, peace, and ethnic strife, with a particular emphasis on peace processes in the Middle East and South Asia. His current work at Georgetown University, both as a research fellow and teacher, explores factors that hinder cooperation in religiously diverse societies, said close relatives while requesting anonymity.

‘Thoughtful scholar with no radical ideology’

Basheer Omaid, another of Suri’s batch mates at Jamia, told The Federal, “I am deeply concerned about the detention of Badar… he does not hold any radical ideology. Quite to the contrary, Badar is a thoughtful scholar with an interest in understanding the root causes of conflicts; in my time with him, I have never encountered anything that would suggest otherwise.”

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Meanwhile, the Indian Ministry of External Affairs claimed on Friday that though it was aware of Suri’s detention in the US, “neither the US government nor the individual has approached us or the Embassy”, indicating, thus, that no formal diplomatic intervention has yet taken place in the case.