Tufts student detained by Trump administration defends right to advocate

A Tufts University student from Turkey, who was arrested last week in Massachusetts by masked US immigration officials after advocating for Palestinians amid Israel's war in Gaza, said on Thursday that she would not be deterred.

A lawyer for Rumeysa Ozturk, 30, read a statement on her behalf to reporters assembled outside the federal court in Boston shortly after a judge heard arguments over whether a lawsuit challenging her detention could remain in Massachusetts even though she is now being detained in Louisiana.

Ozturk's lawyers say the arrest violated her free speech rights, and was based on an opinion piece she co-authored in the university's student newspaper that criticised Tufts' response to calls by students to divest from companies with ties to Israel and to "acknowledge the Palestinian genocide".

Ozturk, a PhD student and Fulbright Scholar, in a statement read by her attorney Mahsa Khanbabai said that: "Writing is one of the most peaceful ways of addressing systemic inequality."

"Efforts to target me because of my op-ed in the Tufts Daily calling for the equal dignity and humanity of all people will not deter me from my commitment to advocate for the rights of youth and children," she said.