A Turkish doctoral student at TUFTS University in the United States returned to Boston after spending more than six weeks in a detention center for immigration to Louisiana in what her lawyers call a politically motivated repression against freedom of expression.
Upon arrival at Boston Logan International Airport, Rumeysa Ozturk told journalists on Saturday that she was delighted to resume her studies during what was a “very difficult” period.
“In the past 45 days, I lost both my freedom and my education for a crucial period for my doctoral studies,” she said. “But I am so grateful for all support, kindness and care.”
Friday, a federal judge ordered his release pending a final decision on her complaint that she was illegally detained.
Ozturk, 30, was arrested on March 25 when immigration officials arrested her in the Massachusetts, revoked his student visa and transferred it to the detention center in Louisiana.
Supporters believe that Ozturk, a Fulbright scholar in Turkiye, was targeted for having co-written an opinion article in his student newspaper, calling for Tofts University to recognize the War of Israel against Gaza as a genocide.
A case of genocide against Israel is underway at the International Court of Justice. Last week, the former EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell accused Israel of having committed a genocide.
Ozturk was joined by his lawyers and two of the Massachusetts du Congress Democrats, Senator Edward Markey and representative Ayanna Pressley.
“Today is a great day because we welcome you again, Rumeysa,” said Markey. “You have returned millions and millions of people through our country so proud of the way you fought.”
Ozturk lawyers say that his visa was revoked without notice and that she was not authorized to contact the legal advisor for more than a day after his arrest.
Friday, by comparing by video, Ozturk spoke of his deterioration of health, in particular serious attacks of asthma in detention, and his hopes to continue his doctoral research on children and social media.
US District Judge William Sessions granted a deposit of Ozturk, saying that she had no risk of theft or danger to the public. He noted that his demand for illegal detention raised serious constitutional questions, in particular potential violations of his rights to freedom of expression and a regular procedure.
The case of Ozturk highlights a practice which has become common under the administration of President Donald Trump. Foreign students have been arrested and hundreds of their student visas were dismissed for their pro-Palestine opinions.
Mahmoud Khalil, who directed demonstrations against the War of Israel against Gaza at Columbia University in New York, was among the first students held by immigration and customs application on March 8. He remains in detention.
The Trump administration has been accused of confusing Israel’s criticism as anti -Semitism.
A spokesman for the Ministry of Internal Security previously accused Ozturk, without evidence, of supporting Hamas, which was appointed as a “terrorist” group by the United States.
Ozturk denied any reprehensible act and said that she would continue to continue her case. “I have confidence in the American justice system,” she said.
Her legal battle continues in Vermont while immigration hearings take place separately in Louisiana, where she can participate at a distance.
Videos of his arrest, which show masked in civilian clothes by taking him to a street in the suburbs of Boston in Somerville, Massachusetts, have become viral and sent cold on American university campuses.
His lawyers for the American American Liberties Union argued that his arrest and detention had been illegally designed to punish her for speech protected by the first amendment to the American Constitution and to cool the discourse of others.
Pressley, who, with two other Democratic members of the Massachusetts Congress, visited Ozturk while she was in detention, said that she was owned in “sordid and inhuman conditions” and denied appropriate medical care for the worsening of asthma crises.
“Rumeysa’s experience was not only an act of cruelty. It was a deliberate and coordinated attempt to intimidate, to intimate fear, to send a scary message to anyone who dares to denounce injustice,” said Pressley.