US Court Hears Case of Turkish Student Allegedly Detained
(MENAFN) A United States federal appeals court convened on Tuesday to examine the case of Turkish national Rumeysa Ozturk, a student who was reportedly detained by immigration authorities in March.
The arrest followed her co-authorship of a published opinion article in a student-run newspaper that condemned Israel’s military actions in Gaza.
Esha Bhandari, the deputy director of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU)'s Speech, Privacy and Technology Project, addressed the public following the hearing through an online press briefing.
“Ms. Ozturk was held behind bars for six weeks for writing an op-ed, and that never should have happened,” Bhandari emphasized.
She went on to argue that the government is attempting to establish a precedent by urging the court to allow immigration detention to be used as a tool against free speech.
According to Bhandari, this would be the first time a court permits such use of detention without offering judicial oversight.
“The government is asking the court to be the first to ever hold that there is no access to judicial review if the government weaponizes immigration detention authority to keep someone locked up simply for exercising their free speech rights,” she stated.
She asserted that the judiciary must intervene when basic freedoms, such as liberty and freedom of speech, are at risk.
“There's no reason that Rumeysa Ozturk should be in detention,” Bhandari concluded.
During the virtual conference, Ozturk’s written statement was also shared. In it, she explained that her editorial urged Tufts University to acknowledge student demands and recognize what she termed the Palestinian genocide.
She portrayed writing as “one of the most peaceful methods of communication and ways of taking action” and described it as “the heart of freedom of expression.”
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