A Tufts University doctoral student from Turkiye is demanding her release after she was detained by immigration officials near her Massachusetts home, detailing how she was scared when the men grabbed her phone and feared she would be killed.
Rumeysa Ozturk, 30, who has since been moved to an Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center in Basile, Louisiana, provided an updated account of what happened to her as she walked along a street on March 25, in a document filed by her lawyers in federal court Thursday.
Ozturk is among several people with ties to American universities whose visas were revoked or have been stopped from entering the US after they were accused of attending demonstrations or publicly expressed support for Palestinians.
‘I felt very scared and concerned’
“I felt very scared and concerned as the men surrounded me and grabbed my phone from me,” Ozturk said in the statement. They told her they were police, and one quickly showed what might have been a gold badge. “But I didn’t think they were the police because I had never seen police approach and take someone away like this,” she said.
Ozturk said she was afraid because her name, photograph and work history were published earlier this year on the website Canary Mission, which describes itself as documenting people who “promote hatred of the USA., Israel and Jews on North American college campuses.”
She said the men didn’t tell her why they were arresting her and shackled her. She said at one point, after they had changed cars, she felt “sure they were going to kill me.” During a stop in Massachusetts, one of the men said to her, “We are not monsters,” and “We do what the government tells us.”
She said they repeatedly refused her requests to speak to a lawyer.
Hearing scheduled on Ozturk’s case in Vermont
A petition to release her was first filed in federal court in Boston and then moved to Burlington, Vermont, where a hearing on her case to resolve jurisdictional issues is scheduled on Monday.
Ozturk’s lawyers say her detention violates her constitutional rights, including free speech and due process. They have asked that she be released from custody.
US Justice Department lawyers say her case in New England should be dismissed and that it should be handled in immigration court. Ozturk “is not without recourse to challenge the revocation of her visa and her arrest and detention, but such challenge cannot be made before this court,” government lawyers said in a brief filed Thursday.
She recalled that the night she spent in the cell in Vermont, she was asked about wanting to apply for asylum and if she was a member of a terrorist organization. “I tried to be helpful and answer their questions but I was so tired and didn’t understand what was happening to me,” she stated.
Ozturk, who suffers from asthma, had an attack the next day at the airport in Atlanta, as she was being taken to Louisiana, she said. She was able to use her inhaler, but unable to get her prescribed medication because there was no place to buy it, she said she was told.
Ozturk says she wasn’t let outside for a week
Once she was put in the Louisiana facility, she was not allowed to go outside during the first week and had limited access to food and supplies for two weeks. She said she suffered three more asthma attacks there and had limited care at a medical center.
Ozturk said she is one of 24 people in a cell that has a sign stating capacity for 14.
“When they do the inmate count we are threatened to not leave our beds or we will lose privileges, which means that we are often stuck waiting in our beds for hours,” she said. “At mealtimes, there is so much anxiety because there is no schedule when it comes. … They threaten to close the door if we don’t leave the room in time, meaning we won’t get a meal.”
Ozturk said she wants to go back to Tufts so she can finish her degree, which she has been working on for five years.
Ozturk was one of four students who wrote an op-ed in the campus newspaper, The Tufts Daily, last year criticizing the university’s response to student activists demanding that Tufts “acknowledge the Palestinian genocide,” disclose its investments and divest from companies with ties to Israel.
A senior Department of Homeland Security spokesperson said federal authorities detained Ozturk after an investigation found she had “engaged in activities in support of Hamas, a foreign terrorist organization that relishes the killing of Americans.” The department did not provide evidence of that support.
Ozturk is supported by coalition of Jewish groups
A coalition of 27 Jewish organizations from across the United States is objecting to Ozturk’s arrest and detention.
The organizations say those actions and possible deportation of Ozturk for her protected speech “violate the most basic constitutional rights,” such as freedom of expression.
“The government … appears to be exploiting Jewish Americans’ legitimate concerns about antisemitism as pretext for undermining core pillars of American democracy, the rule of law, and the fundamental rights of free speech and academic debate on which this nation was built,” the groups say in a friend-of-the-court brief filed Friday in her case.
Tufts student from Turkiye details arrest, crowded detention conditions in new court filing
https://arab.news/zj7kp
Tufts student from Turkiye details arrest, crowded detention conditions in new court filing
- Rumeysa Ozturk, 30, is among several people with ties to American universities whose visas were revoked or have been stopped from entering the US
- They were accused of attending demonstrations or publicly expressed support for Palestinians amid Israel's attacks on Gaza
Filipino grandfather’s sidewalk library sparks reading mission — one book at a time
- Hernando Guanlao started the library in front of his home in Makati City
- It has no membership fee, no rules, and no late return penalties
MANILA: Hernando Guanlao had just 50 books when in 2000, on a mission to encourage more people to read, he set out a sidewalk display. A quarter of a century later, the collection has grown to include thousands of volumes and a roadside library that is free and open to all, at all times.
Located in Barangay La Paz in Makati City, the Philippines’ main financial district, Reading Club 2000 greets passersby with the sign: “A good book is easy to find.”
Affectionately known as Tatay Nanie, Guanlao keeps books on the shelves in front of his house, on the ground floor and in his driveway, making them accessible to anyone looking for something to read. His vast collection ranges from fiction and non-fiction books to religious texts, academic theses, encyclopedias, dictionaries, children’s literature and magazines, as well as self-help and textbooks.
The library is open 24/7, has no rules, no membership fee, and no late return penalties. If a reader fails to return a book, it is no problem — more will soon arrive in its place.
“A lot of books came over here from donations, delivered personally by people from different kinds of economic groups — individuals who still love (and) value printed words, love what they learnt from reading. They share it. They become givers,” Guanlao told Arab News.
In the past, when Reading Club 2000 was still small and he started running out of books, there would always be people offering support — something that for him is intrinsically Filipino.
“I’m not alone. I was able to generate participation of the community,” he said. “The donors are reminded of our culture. Filipinos have different cultures: In Ilocos, they have the Ilocano culture; in Bicol, the Bicolano culture ... But there’s one (common) thing: They are heroes, the givers. They have that in their hearts.”
Those who borrow a book from the sidewalk library usually return. Most are surprised Guanlao’s books are all available free of charge.
But the 75-year-old bibliophile does not see himself as the owner of the books; rather, he their custodian, on a mission he hopes his children and grandchildren will continue.
He has not counted how many books have come through the library over the past 25 years but estimates that each day at least 200 leave — some never to return.
“These books are not mine. These are entrusted to me by a lot of book donors. I have to take care of the distribution of the books ... (to) readers that will contribute and be a force of change in the society,” he said.
“Reading is liberating ... As you read, you learn and learn and learn. And when you learn, you discuss and discuss and discuss. You are not alone in doing that ... You will (find) the answer you’re looking for in life — the purpose of why you are here.”
Brits trapped in Israel recount ‘frightening’ ordeal amid deadly Iranian strikes
- UK citizens demand urgent repatriation flights after missile salvos injure at least 300 Israelis
- ‘It’s not one missile from Yemen or rockets from Gaza, it’s hundreds of ballistic missiles coming from Iran’
LONDON: Britons in Tel Aviv have recounted the “frightening” ordeal of sheltering from missile attacks after Israel faced days of deadly Iranian salvos.
In comments to The Times newspaper, three Brits stranded in the country demanded that the UK government organize urgent repatriation flights.
Zach Margolin, a 31-year-old online comedian, said on Sunday: “It’s really frightening. We could hear enormous explosions; we could hear the Iron Dome flying up and then the building shaking. Last night was the most I’ve seen, it’s proper explosions.”
He had flown to the Israeli capital on June 4 for his birthday and to produce content for social media.
But after Israel’s June 13 attack on Iran and Tehran’s subsequent retaliation, Margolin is now one of thousands of Brits stranded in the country.
He had booked three flights on June 18, 19 and 20 to give him the best chance of returning home.
On the first night of Iran’s retaliation on Friday, he fled his apartment for safety at 10 p.m., 1 a.m. and 5 a.m. after hearing air raid sirens.
Tehran’s missile forces had launched more than 100 ballistic missiles and drones at the Israeli capital in response to the Israel Defense Forces’ “Operation Rising Lion.”
Margolin said: “You’d be crazy not to be afraid. I’ve been to Israel many times during sirens, and the usual protocol is you go in the shelter, wait 10 minutes and then go out, but this is a different beast.
“It’s not one missile from Yemen or rockets from Gaza, it’s hundreds of ballistic missiles coming from Iran.”
Iran’s retaliatory salvos killed at least 13 people in the first two nights of strikes.
Israel closed its airspace in response, as well as land routes out of the country.
“Ideally the UK government should be putting on a repatriation flight,” Margolin said. “The only update (from the Foreign Office) is don’t go to Israel.”
The Foreign Office later warned that the situation could “deteriorate further, quickly and without warning,” and advised against all travel to Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories, placing the two on the same level of advice as Iran.
James Eden, a 72-year-old retired accountant, had flown to Israel last week for a Christian pilgrimage.
He told The Times that he was considering escaping the country via bus through the Negev desert, in an attempt to reach Egypt.
“The (Foreign Office) rang me and said there wasn’t a lot they could do,” he added.
“They’re not going to stop me (leaving by land) — but they’re not going to help me get out of Egypt either.”
Posts on social media platforms have advertised opportunities to reach the Egyptian Red Sea resort city of Sharm El-Sheikh from Israel, in order for Britons to catch safe flights home.
British father-of-two Max Radford, 52, feared that his time in Israel would be “indefinite” as he urged the UK government to move repatriation aircraft to its bases on Cyprus, to prepare for quick evacuation flights from Tel Aviv.
“There is absolutely no question that the British government should be putting on repatriation flights,” he said. “They should know that there are thousands of Brits here that are stranded. They need to do something. There is no airline that can do it.”
Radford added: “I had a very nearby explosion the night before last when I was in Tel Aviv. “You never know what comes next; we’ve no idea about tonight and we really don’t know how long we’re here for. It’s kind of indefinite.”
UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy told British nationals in Israel that their safety “remains our top priority.”
He said: “My message to British nationals there is clear: your safety remains our top priority. Follow our travel advice for the latest updates.”
Suspect in shooting of Minnesota lawmakers to appear in court on murder charges
- Vance Boelter was charged with two counts of second-degree murder and two counts of second-degree attempted murder
MINNEAPOLIS: A man accused of killing a Democratic state lawmaker while posing as a police officer is expected to appear in a Minnesota court on Monday afternoon on state murder charges.
Vance Boelter, 57, is being held in Hennepin County after he was arrested on Sunday following a massive manhunt over the weekend. Boelter is accused of shooting dead Melissa Hortman, the top Democrat in the Minnesota House, and her husband, Mark, in their home on Saturday.
Authorities said Boelter was also suspected of shooting and wounding another Democratic lawmaker, state Senator John Hoffman, and his wife Yvette at their home a few miles away.
Governor Tim Walz has characterized the crimes as a “politically motivated assassination.”
“A moment in this country where we watch violence erupt, this cannot be the norm. It cannot be the way that we deal with our political differences,” Walz said.
Boelter was charged with two counts of second-degree murder and two counts of second-degree attempted murder, a criminal complaint showed. He is scheduled to appear in court at 1:30 p.m. local time, jail records showed.
Three of those charges are punishable with jail terms of up to 40 years, according to a Hennepin County criminal complaint unsealed on Sunday.
Boelter had been impersonating a police officer while carrying out the shootings, wearing an officer’s uniform and driving a Ford SUV with police-style lights, the complaint said.
Boelter fled on foot early on Saturday when officers confronted him at Hortman’s Brooklyn Park home, said authorities who had warned residents to stay indoors for their own safety and unleashed the state’s biggest manhunt.
When police searched Boelter’s SUV after the shootings, they discovered three AK-47 assault rifles, a 9-mm handgun, and a list of other public officials including their addresses, the criminal complaint showed.
Working on a tip that Boelter was near his home in the city of Green Isle, more than 20 SWAT teams combed the area, aided by surveillance aircraft, officials said. Boelter was armed but surrendered with no shots fired.
The operation to capture Boelter, drawing on the work of hundreds of detectives and a wide range of federal, state and local law enforcement agencies, was the largest manhunt in state history, Brooklyn Park police Chief Mark Bruley said during a news conference on Sunday.
The killing was the latest episode of high-profile US political violence.
Such incidents range from a 2022 attack on former Democratic US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s husband at their home, to an assassination bid on Donald Trump last year, and an arson attack at Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro’s house in April.
Israel furious as France shuts four weapons stands at Paris Airshow
- The stands were those being used by Elbit Systems, Rafael, IAI and Uvision
- France, a long-time Israeli ally, has gradually hardened its position on the government of Benjamin Netanyahu over its actions in Gaza and military interventions abroad
PARIS/JERUSALEM: France shut down the four main Israeli company stands at the Paris Airshow for refusing to remove offensive weapons from display, in a move condemned by Israel and highlighting tensions between the traditional allies.
A source familiar with the matter told Reuters on Monday that the instruction came from French authorities after Israeli firms failed to comply with a direction from a French security agency to remove offensive or kinetic weapons from the stands.
The stands were those being used by Elbit Systems, Rafael, IAI and Uvision. Three smaller Israeli stands, which didn’t have hardware on display, and an Israeli Ministry of Defense stand, remain open.
France, a long-time Israeli ally, has gradually hardened its position on the government of Benjamin Netanyahu over its actions in Gaza and military interventions abroad.
French President Emmanuel Macron made a distinction last week between Israel’s right to protect itself, which France supports and could take part in, and strikes on Iran it did not recommend.
Israel’s defense ministry said it had categorically rejected the order to remove some weapons systems from displays, and that exhibition organizers responded by erecting a black wall that separated the Israeli industry pavilions from others.
This action, it added, was carried out in the middle of the night after Israeli defense officials and companies had already finished setting up their displays.
“This outrageous and unprecedented decision reeks of policy-driven and commercial considerations,” the ministry said in a statement.
“The French are hiding behind supposedly political considerations to exclude Israeli offensive weapons from an international exhibition — weapons that compete with French industries.”
IAI’s president and CEO, Boaz Levy, said the black partition walls were reminiscent of “the dark days of when Jews were segmented from European society.”
Two US Republican politicians attending the air show also criticized the French move.
Talking to reporters outside the blacked-out Israeli defense stalls, US Republican Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders described the decision as “pretty absurd,” while Republican Senator Katie Britt criticized it as “short-sighted.”
The French prime minister’s office did not immediately return a request for comment.
Meshar Sasson, senior vice president at Elbit Systems, accused France of trying to stymie competition, pointing to a series of contracts that Elbit has won in Europe.
“If you cannot beat them in technology, just hide them right? That’s what it is because there’s no other explanation,” he said.
Rafael described the French move as “unprecedented, unjustified, and politically motivated.”
The air show’s organizer said in a statement that it was in talks to try to help “the various parties find a favorable outcome to the situation.”
India and Cyprus to step up defense, maritime and cybersecurity cooperation, Indian PM says
NICOSIA: India will step up its defense ties with Cyprus through collaboration between the two countries’ respective defense industries, the Indian prime minister said Monday.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi didn’t offer details, but he said talks would begin on boosting bilateral maritime and cybersecurity cooperation.
He said after talks with Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides that the two countries would also set up an information exchange mechanism geared toward combatting the threat of terrorism.
Modi’s two-day visit to Cyprus, ahead of his trip to Canada for the G7 summit, is the first by an Indian prime minister in more than two decades.
In a joint declaration, the two countries also pledged to expand maritime cooperation through more frequent Indian navy calls to Cypriot ports and looking at enhancing joint maritime training and search and rescue operations.
Modi underscored the role of the envisioned India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor (IMEC) as a means to usher peace and prosperity in the Middle East.
Cyprus figures to act as the linchpin between India, the Middle East and Europe in the trade, energy and digital connectivity corridor, given the island nation’s geographical location as the nearest European Union country to the Middle East and India.
Christodoulides said Cyprus was India’s “gateway into Europe” as a base for Indian businesses. He pledged to help implement initiatives such as IMEC that will connect India through specific infrastructure works with the Gulf, the Mediterranean and the European continent.
The Cypriot president said India-EU ties and an upgraded free trade agreement would be among his country’s top priorities when Cyprus assumes the 27-member bloc’s rotating presidency in the first half of 2026.
The Indian prime minister hailed the visit as a harbinger of a new era of India-Cyprus relations built on shared values and deep historic ties that “have been tested time and again.”
Former British colonies Cyprus and India were among members of the Non-Aligned Movement, a collection of nations which opted out of the Cold War choice of allegiance to either the West or the Communist bloc.
