The Indian scientist arrested in the United States for Palestinian sympathy

It was an invitation from a classmate 15 years ago who changed the life of Badar Khan Suri, an Indian scientist who is now facing deportation from the United States for accusations that he was linked to a Hamas member.

On that summer evening, Suri was sitting outside her department at the Milia Islamic University in Delhi when a classmate announced that the convoy of international aid was ready to go to Gaza – The Palestinian territory, managed by the armed Islamist group Hamas and under the blockade from Israel.

For conflicting studies, caravan-for more than 150 people from several Asian countries, has offered the opportunity for once in a life to witness one of the most controversial disputes in the world.

Suri happily agreed to participate, a BBC classmate recalled.

It was during this trip that he met with Mafez Saleh, a Palestinian and the daughter of a former Hamas adviser, whom he married a few months later.

After living in Delhi for almost a decade, the couple moved to the United States, where Suri joined the prestigious Georgetown University as a PhD.

He lived in Virginia for nearly three years when The police knocked on his door The evening of March 17 and arrested him.

Three days later, on March 20, Trisha McLaflin, Assistant Secretary of the Ministry of Homeland Security, tweets that Suri was detained for his “close ties with a famous or suspect terrorist, senior advisor to Hamas.” He denied the allegations.

This action follows the repression of President Donald Trump on illegal immigrants and activists involved in the protests of the propalist campus, which authorities accuse of nourishing anti -Semitism and Hamas’s support. The group is designated as a terrorist organization from the United States. However, India has not banned Hamas.

Although Suri, who has legally entered the US on a student visa, has blocked his deportation from the US court, the claims of Trump administration shocked those who know him at home.

His acquaintances describe him as a soft Kazan, a shy and hardworking student with broad knowledge around the world, while his classmates and teachers said they had discovered allegations that he had relationships with Hamas “delicate”.

India historically supported the Palestinian Caus. But in recent years, it has also developed closely, strategic ties with Israel, with Delhi often refraining from criticizing Israel’s actions.

Even then, “in no way of imagination can be associated with something illegal,” one of his mosque teachers told the BBC.

“Having an opinion on the ongoing conflict is not a crime. As a scientist for conflict research, it is within his professional mandate to share his analysis of the Gaza War.”

Those who accompanied him on the trip held similar views.

Feroze Mithiborwala, one of the organizers of the caravan, remembered Suri as an intelligent young man.

“He always took a secular position in our discussions. He was not a right -wing Islamist type,” he said.

The trip began in December 2010 from Delhi. As India’s neighbor Pakistan declined to give the group travel permission, the convoy had to travel to Iran, Turkey, Syria and Egypt before reaching Gaza at the end.

The route, the bigger part of which was covered by bus, offered a lot for a student in peace and conflict research, said one of the friends of G -n Suri, who also went on the tour.

During the journey, he was deeply excited by the suffering he witnessed in Gaza and focused on providing help to widowed and elderly, he added.

The caravan in many ways “approached Suri closer to the Palestinian cause”, but his interest was largely academic, said another classmate, who was in connection with him up to days before his arrest.

The second and the last time, when Suri went to Gaza, was for her own wedding with D -Ja Saleh.

An American citizen, D -Ja Saleh, worked as a translator and volunteer in gas at that time.

Her father, who lived in the United States, is a former adviser to Ismail Hannie, the Hamas leader, killed by Israel last year, according to a statement presented by her in court.

In 2010, her father left the Gaza Government and “launched the Chamber of Wisdom in 2011 to encourage the resolution of peace and conflicts in Gaza,” she adds.

When D -Ja Saleh and G -n Suri met for the first time, they did not speak much. But they contacted again a few months later, a friend who accompanied him to the caravan, told the BBC.

Their wedding is done Titles In India, when the couple moved back to Delhi and continued to live there for about eight years.

G -ja Saleh enrolled for a master’s degree in a mosque and later worked at the Embassy of Qatar. In 2023, Suri moved to the United States and Da Saleh followed him.

He was months since he was completed when he was arrested.

Suri’s father said he had hurt him to see his son in this situation.

“He has no relationship with Hamas or Palestine (except his marriage). His sin is that he is married to a Palestinian woman,” he said.

But he hopes his son will not be deported. “After all, these are just claims. There is no evidence of any misconduct,” he added.

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