Civil liberties organisations and academics have raised alarm at the detention of Mahmoud Khalil, a Palestinian student activist at Columbia University, calling it a serious breach of free-speech rights under the administration of President Donald Trump. . . .
Others also worry that Trump’s crackdown on protesters will not remain limited to supporters of Palestine. He previously stated he would look to impose serious punishments on all “illegal protests”, without defining what that entails.
“It’s important to note that Palestinians, Arabs and Muslims who are active in the fight for Palestinian rights are canaries in the coal mine,” said Sahar Aziz, a professor at Rutgers Law School and author of the book The Racial Muslim.
“Americans should view how they are treated as an indicator of what’s in store for anyone who has views that dissent from the government.”
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