Two days after being released from ICE custody, pro-Palestine activist and Columbia graduate Mahmoud Khalil was back on the streets outside of the University, surrounded by a crowd of hundreds of supporters.
Khalil was detained on March 8 by plainclothes ICE agents outside of his home in Columbia University housing, in front of his pregnant wife, Dr. Noor Abdalla. Khalil spent 104 days in ICE custody in the notorious LaSalle Detention Center in the rural town of Jena, Louisiana.
“It felt like I was literally being kidnapped,” Khalil described to members of the press outside of the Cathedral of St. John the Divine on June 20. Khalil described being prohibited from communicating with his then-pregnant wife for 30 hours. “These 30 hours were the most difficult time during the whole experience,” Khalil said, who described that during this time, he was not told what he was accused of.
Khalil described some of the conditions he faced while at the detention center in Jena. “I shared a dorm with over 70 men,” he said, describing the lack of privacy and little change from night to day, with lights on 24/7. “It’s so normal in detention to see men cry,” Khalil said. “They can’t understand why they are there. They know they don’t have documents, but does this actually mean that they should be detained?” Khalil asked.
Khalil was released on June 20 in Louisiana, and arrived at the airport in Newark, New Jersey, the very next day.
Accusing the Columbia University administration of “trying its best to portray me as someone who was violent,” Khalil spoke at the press conference near the Columbia University gates on June 22 to set the record straight.
“Who is Mahmoud Khalil?” he asked the crowd of hundreds of supporters gathered on the steps of the Cathedral of St. John the Divine. “Mahmoud Khalil is a human rights defender. Mahmoud Khalil is a freedom fighter. Mahmoud Khalil is a refugee. Mahmoud Khalil is a father and husband. And above all, Mahmoud Khalil is Palestinian,” he said, to thunderous applause.
“Mahmoud Khalil is a Palestinian who refused to remain silent,” he continued.
Before Khalil’s press conference outside of the cathedral, Peoples Dispatch spoke to Maryam Alwan, Columbia University graduate and Khalil’s friend. For Alwan, her friend’s return “is the closure that we all needed.”
“I can’t believe it’s been over three months. Every single day, we were counting the days and hoping that he would be released sooner,” Alwan said. Her friend’s release is “a strong message that no matter what repression they try, it will always backfire,” she expressed.
Khalil took questions from reporters. One asked what his message was to students who might be fearful of expressing their activism based on what happened to him.
“We will win,” Khalil asserted, to applause from the crowd, who were led by Khalil’s friends and fellow Columbia graduates and students into chants of “I believe that we will win!”
“The students across the country have always led us towards what’s right,” Khalil continued. “They were our moral compass. This happened during the Vietnam War, during apartheid South Africa, during fossil fuels demonstrations, and it’s happening now.”
After taking questions from the press, Khalil led a crowd in a march to Columbia’s gates. While in front of the gates, Khalil vowed to continue to protest against the genocide in Gaza.
