Latest news with #post-Gaza
National News
26-04-2025
- Politics
- National News
Salameh partakes in "International Orientalism Conference" in Doha
NNA—Minister of Culture Ghassan Salameh participated today in the opening of the International Orientalism Conference in Doha, which was attended by 600 researchers and intellectuals from around the world. Salameh was a guest speaker at the opening session, "Towards Balanced Civilizational Communication," which also included Gambian Foreign Minister Mamadou Tangara, and Director of the Centre for Middle Eastern Studies at Oxford University, Eugene Rogan. In his word, the Culture Minister touched on the developing concept of Orientalism and its criticism, noting that ideas have regained their weight at the expense of identity elements. He explained that in the past decades, we reached considerations of identity and inherited elements without giving sufficient importance to notions which are usually adopted with complete freedom, unlike the identity that is given upon birth. In response to a question about the situation in Gaza, Salameh considered that "what happened in Gaza raises doubts about the effectiveness of international laws, international systems, and the shared international community of values," adding that "there is a pre-Gaza phase and a post-Gaza phase." Salameh underlined that we must come to an understanding from now on that if there are truly universal values, they must be applied to everyone with the same force and the same strictness, without the exclusion of countries, as is the case with Israel's actions in Gaza. =========
Express Tribune
15-04-2025
- Politics
- Express Tribune
Palestinian student Mohsen Mahdawi detained by ICE on day of citizenship interview
Listen to article A Palestinian student leader at Columbia University was arrested by US immigration officials while attending what was meant to be the final step in his US citizenship process, sparking condemnation from lawmakers and rights groups. Mohsen Mahdawi, a long-time US resident and senior at Columbia, was taken into custody at a US Citizenship and Immigration Services office in Colchester, Vermont. Mahdawi, who had lived in the United States for a decade, was applying for naturalisation after holding a green card since arriving from the West Bank as a child. His legal team says he was detained in retaliation for his pro-Palestinian advocacy, including his role in organising campus protests last year during the Gaza war. 'The Trump administration detained Mohsen Mahdawi in direct retaliation for his advocacy and his identity as a Palestinian,' attorney Luna Droubi said in a statement. 'His detention is an attempt to silence dissent. It is also unconstitutional.' A federal judge in Vermont, William Sessions, issued a temporary restraining order Monday evening preventing the Trump administration from deporting Mahdawi or moving him out of Vermont. Mahdawi had stepped back from active organising in early 2024 and planned to begin a master's programme at Columbia in the autumn. He is the second Columbia student with permanent residency detained under Trump's post-Gaza protest crackdown, following Mahmoud Khalil, who was arrested in March and is currently in detention in Louisiana pending deportation proceedings. The Trump administration has cited a provision of the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965, allowing green card revocation if an individual is deemed a threat to US foreign policy. Secretary of State Marco Rubio last week linked pro-Palestinian campus protest leaders to a broader rise in antisemitism and national security concerns. Mahdawi, who was born in a refugee camp in the West Bank, has not been charged with any crime. A video circulated online shows him flashing peace signs as he was led out of the USCIS office by plainclothes agents, hands cuffed in front. Vermont's congressional delegation, including Senators Bernie Sanders and Peter Welch and Representative Becca Balint, condemned the arrest as 'immoral, inhumane and illegal.' In a joint statement, they said Mahdawi must be released and afforded due process. 'He was arrested and removed in handcuffs by plainclothes, armed individuals with their faces covered,' they said. Legal experts warned that the Trump administration's actions may violate First Amendment protections and judicial orders. 'You can't disappear people for exercising their First Amendment rights,' said Senator Chris Van Hollen of Maryland. The Trump administration has previously resisted court orders in immigration cases, including one last week involving Kilmar Ábrego García, a Venezuelan mistakenly deported to El Salvador. Despite a Supreme Court ruling directing his return, the administration said it would not seek to bring him back. Mahdawi's attorneys have filed a habeas petition seeking his release, and say ICE may attempt to transfer him out of state despite the judge's restraining order. 'He remains in Vermont, and we've confirmed that with ICE,' attorney Luna Droubi told CNN. 'Any move now would be a deliberate violation of the court's order.' Mahdawi co-founded the Palestinian Student Union at Columbia in 2023. He previously spoke to 60 Minutes about his experience as a Palestinian and said, 'The fight for freedom of Palestine and the fight against antisemitism go hand in hand because injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.'
