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Anyone in the US who likes to think they live in a free country ought to be outraged by the case of Rumeysa Ozturk.
The video of the Tufts University doctoral student being seized on the sidewalk near her home in a Boston suburb is chilling. It shows about half a dozen individuals with covered faces surrounding Ozturk, grabbing her, and then leading her away.
Ozturk’s only “crime” – the apparent reason masked federal agents snatched her off the street – was she’d written something the government didn’t like. Specifically, something the Trump administration didn’t like.
Ozturk co-authored a commentary article in a student newspaper. It highlighted credible accusations of atrocities committed by the government of Israel in Gaza, and linked to reports by the UN and Amnesty international. The article also called on Tufts University to “acknowledge the Palestinian genocide” and divest from investments connected to Israel.
Was the article controversial? Maybe, depending on your opinion of the mounting credible allegations of Israeli government atrocities in Gaza. Was the article criminal? Obviously not.
The US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) says Ozturk “engaged in activities in support of Hamas.” The word “Hamas” does not even appear in the jointly written commentary article. Again, it’s about university policies in light of credible allegations the Israeli government is committing atrocities.
Ozturk’s case is not isolated. It is one incident in the US government’s wider effort to arbitrarily arrest and deport international students and scholars in retaliation for their political viewpoints and activism related to Palestine.
Ozturk is from Türkiye. She’s in the US on a student visa.
This doesn’t mean she somehow loses her right to free speech, by the way. Under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which the US ratified in 1992, noncitizens have the right to hold opinions and to express them.
Punishing people for exercising their right to free speech is a violation of international human rights law.
The Trump administration is carrying on regardless with a wide crackdown on noncitizen students and academics who hold opinions the government doesn’t like. The cases of Mahmoud Khalil and Yunseo Chung have also rightly gained media attention, like Ozturk’s, but what’s happening goes far beyond a few individuals.
The administration says it has revoked hundreds of student visas already.
What’s going on in the US right now is outrageous enough. But also, where is it leading? What political opinions will the government target next? Who will be snatched off the street next by masked thugs solely for expressing an opinion the government doesn’t like?
As HRW’s John Raphling, says: “The Trump administration’s actions are an attack on free speech and threaten the very foundations of a free society.”
