The China Mail - Detained pro-Palestinian activist denied legal calls, lawyer tells US court

Columbia University graduate Mahmoud Khalil, one of the most prominent faces of the protest movement that erupted in response to Israel's conduct of the war, was arrested and taken to Louisiana over the weekend, sparking protests.

The government has not accused Khalil of breaking any laws, suggesting instead that his permanent residency was being revoked over his involvement in the protests.

His arrest has triggered outrage from critics of the Trump administration as well as free speech advocates, including some on the political right, who say such a move has a chilling effect on freedom of expression.

Khalil had only spoken to lawyers on a monitored phone line from Louisiana and had not yet had a privileged conversation with them, his attorney Ramzi Kaseem told a federal court in New York Wednesday.

He was "taken at night as he walked home with his wife and taken 1,000 miles away to Louisiana," Kaseem told the court, noting Khalil's wife, a US citizen, is eight months pregnant with their first child.

Khalil was "detained and processed for deportation... because he was in advocacy of Palestinian rights."

"Help us gain more regular access -- we have not been able to confer -- our access to our client is severely limited."

Judge Jesse Furman ordered that Khalil receive a daily call protected by client-attorney privilege, meaning the authorities cannot monitor its content.

- 'Prohibiting anti-Semitism' -

There was no immediate decision on deportation, or on the legal question of where the case should be heard, with the government arguing it should be either New Jersey, where Khalil was processed, or Louisiana.

Judge Furman set a deadline of Friday for the government to submit arguments to the court with a decision due on Monday.

Outside the hearing, hundreds protested in support of Khalil, flying Palestinian flags and holding up banners, while actress Susan Sarandon was at court to back the detained man.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio denied Wednesday that the arrest was an attack on free speech.

"Once you're in this country on such a (student) visa, we will revoke it" for alleged support of Hamas, he said in Ireland on the way to a G7 meeting of foreign ministers.

"And if you end up having a green card, not citizenship, but a green card as a result of that visa, while you're here (doing) those activities, we're going to kick you out. It's as simple as that," he said.

The Department of Homeland Security, in announcing Khalil's arrest, said it had acted "in support of President Trump's executive orders prohibiting anti-Semitism, and in coordination with the Department of State."

On Tuesday, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said authorities had supplied a list of other Columbia students that officers were seeking to deport over their alleged participation in protests.

The university -- which has already seen $400 million in federal funding cut over accusations of not sufficiently addressing anti-Semitism -- was not cooperating, she added.

Campuses across the country were rocked last year by student protests against Israel's war in Gaza, with some resulting in violent clashes involving police and pro-Israel counter-protesters.

Trump and other Republicans have broadly accused the protesters of supporting Hamas, a US-designated terrorist group whose deadly attack on October 7, 2023 against Israel sparked the war.

L.Kwan--ThChM