Mahmoud Khalil and Trump’s assault on free speech

Today in Focus

The Guardian

Daily News, News

4.6 • 5.7K Ratings

🗓️ 20 March 2025

⏱️ 34 minutes

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Summary

Detained after taking a leading role in pro-Palestine protests at Columbia University, the graduate has called himself a political prisoner. Chris McGreal reports. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/infocus

Transcript

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0:00.0	This is The Guardian.
0:09.3	Today, how the arrest of a pro-Palestine activist
0:12.8	is becoming the biggest test of free speech in the US for decades.
0:23.6	Turn around, turn around, turn around, turn around.
0:25.8	Okay, let's not.
0:27.4	Okay, he's not resisting.
0:28.9	He's giving me his phone, okay?
0:30.7	This is New York City, 8th of March this year.
0:34.1	A group of plainclothes agents from the Immigration Enforcement Agency, ICE,
0:39.5	surround and handcuff a man named Mahmoud Khalil.
0:42.6	You guys really don't need to be doing all of that. They're being filmed by Mahmood's wife,
0:47.3	Noor. She's eight months pregnant.
0:49.4	Hi, Amy. Yeah, they just like handcuffed them and I don't know what to do.
0:56.3	Last year, Mahmoud became one of the faces of a student protest movement at Columbia University
1:02.0	against the ongoing Israeli war in Gaza.
1:05.2	Can we get a name, please? Can we get your name?
1:09.3	The lawyer's asking for your name.
1:11.1	She's saying they, he's saying they don't give their names.
1:14.2	He isn't being accused of a crime.
1:16.7	These men want to deport Mahmoud because of his activism.
1:20.6	But they've made a mistake.
1:24.9	She said, she said they're taking him to 26 federal plaza.
	...

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