The family of the detained Georgetown University scholar has not been given any information about the detention, Badar Khan Suri‘s sister Khushnuma Khan recently told CNN as Khan Suri’s deportation has been blocked by a judge for the time being. “We know only as much as anyone else, which is what is reported in the media. We are currently confused about how and why this is happening to him,” the sister said as Badar Khan’s parents have spoken out about the nightmare that fell before them.
Badaer Khan Suri’s father who lives in India told TOI that he and his son visited Gaza only once to ask for Mapheze’s hand in the marriage. Mapheze Saleh is Suri’s wife, an American citizen of Palestinian descent and her father Ahmed Yousef is a former adviser to Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh. Yousef left politics almost a decade ago.
Khan’s petition, however, said he went to Gaza twice — the first one was for a humanitarian visit. He never visited Gaza after 2013, it said.
Khan Suri’s petition alleged that his detainment in “targeted and retaliatory” tied to a broader effort by the Donald Trump administration to revoke the visas of individuals who participated in Palestine-related speech.
How did Badar Khan Suri and Saleh meet?
According to their friends, Badar Khan Suri met Saleh in Gaza in 2011 when he went there as part of an international convoy. At that time, Suri was studying at the Nelson Mandela Centre for Peace and Conflict Resolution at Jamia Millia Islamia. In 2013, Saleh came to India to study and she enrolled at the same university. Khan Suri had a plan for a Gaza wedding but it was canceled because of the violent situation in Egypt and the duo got married in New Delhi, India, in 2014.
Purported photo of Badar Khan Suri with Ismail Haniyeh viral
After his detention, a purported photo of Badar Khan Suri with the Hamas leader surfaced on social media though it is not confirmed whether the person in the photo is indeed Suri.
