8 hours ago
Last Updated:May 15, 2025, 23:46 IST
Georgetown University researcher Badar Khan Suri, a former student of Delhi’s Jamia Millia Islamia, said his whole body was chained during his detention.
Badar Khan Suri, a Georgetown University scholar from India, speaks after he was released from immigration detention facility in Alvarado, Texas. (IMAGE: AP Photo)
Georgetown University researcher Badar Khan Suri, who was detained by immigration authorities in the United States over alleged ties to Hamas, narrated his ordeal at the detention centre after his release this week.
Speaking to American media outlets, after being freed from detention at Prairieland Detention Center in Texas, he said his “whole body was chained" and that he “missed" his “shadow" during his detention.
US District Judge Patricia Giles, sitting in Alexandria, Virginia, on Wednesday ordered his immediate release and allowed him to rejoin his family on personal recognisance. In her ruling, Judge Giles stated that Khan Suri’s detention violated the First Amendment, which guarantees the right to free speech.
“There was no charge, there was nothing. They made a sub-human out of me," said Khan Suri who was accused of having ties with Hamas, a Palestinian group designated as a terrorist organisation by the US and detained for two months after being arrested by plainclothes federal agents outside his home in Arlington, Virginia.
“For the first seven, eight days, I even missed my shadow. It was Kafka-esque, where they were taking me, what they were doing to me. I was chained — my ankles, my wrist, my body. Everything was chained," Khan Suri was quoted as saying by broadcaster NBC News.
“I had only worried that, Oh, my kids are suffering because of me. My eldest son is only nine, and my twins are only five. My nine-year-old knows where I am. He was going through very rough times. My wife used to tell me that he was crying. He needs support from mental health," he further added.
The former Jamia Millia Islamia student was initially held overnight at a facility in Virginia before being moved to Texas via Louisiana, due to a shortage of space in Virginia.
According to the Georgetown University website, Suri held a PhD in peace and conflict studies from India and was teaching a course titled “Majoritarianism and Minority Rights in South Asia".
Location :Alvarado, Texas
First Published:News world US Scholar With Alleged Ties To Hamas Says He Was Chained In Detention: 'Missed My Shadow'
