Action Group | United States
In a moving letter from inside a Louisiana detention center, Palestinian-Syrian activist Mahmoud Khalil revealed details of his arbitrary arrest and harsh detention conditions, stating that his arrest stemmed from his advocacy for Palestine and his call to end the genocide in Gaza. Khalil, who was born in the Khan al-Shih Palestinian refugee camp in Syria, described the similarities between his arrest and the administrative detention practiced by Israel against Palestinians.
“I am writing to you from a detention center in Louisiana, where I wake up to cold mornings and spend my long days witnessing the silent injustice being perpetrated against so many people excluded from the protection of the law,”Khalil said in his letter. “Who has the right to have rights? Certainly not the people crowded into the cells here.”
Khalil said he was arrested on March 8 by Department of Homeland Security agents who refused to provide a warrant and attacked him and his wife as they were returning from dinner. “Before I realized what was happening, the agents handcuffed me and forced me into an unmarked car,”he said. “At that moment, my only concern was for my wife, Nour’s safety.”Khalil went on to describe the harsh conditions of his detention, where he was transferred to a facility in Elizabeth, New Jersey, where he was forced to sleep on the cold floor without a blanket. He asserted that his arrest was a direct result of his activism in defense of Palestine and his advocacy for an end to the genocide in Gaza.
Khalil added, “I was born in the Khan al-Shih Palestinian refugee camp in Syria, and I see in my situation similarities to Israel’s use of administrative detention””imprisonment without trial or charge””to deny Palestinians their rights.”He spoke of other Palestinian detainees, such as Omar al-Khatib and Dr. Hussam Abu Safiyeh, who was kidnapped by the Israeli military and remains detained to this day.
Khalil asserted that his arrest is part of a broader strategy to suppress dissent, noting that the Trump and Biden administrations have continued to supply Israel with weapons and suppress any international intervention. “For decades, anti-Palestinian racism has been the driving force behind the expansion of US laws and practices used to violently oppress Palestinians, Arab Americans, and other communities,”he said. Khalil concluded his message by emphasizing the importance of continuing the struggle for the liberation of Palestine, saying, “If anything proves the strength of our movement, it is that my arrest is evidence of THE power of the student movement to shift public opinion toward the liberation of Palestine.”He expressed his hope that he would be free to witness the birth of his first child.
*Arrest Background*
Mahmoud Khalil, a Syrian-Palestinian activist born in Syria, was arrested on March 8 by US Department of Homeland Security agents without a warrant. Khalil believes his arrest is part of a broader campaign to suppress pro-Palestinian activists in the United States, particularly in light of the escalating violence in Gaza and the ongoing genocide there.
