US judge orders release of pro-Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil

A US judge on Friday ordered that pro-Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil be released from custody.

Khalil was arrested by immigration agents in his Columbia University residence in Manhattan on 8 March for his pro-Palestinian advocacy against Israel’s war in Gaza during encampments that swept across the US last year. 

When the student protests began at Columbia University following the 7 October 2023 Hamas-led attacks on southern Israel and the subsequent war on Gaza, Khalil functioned as an intermediary between students and university administrators over the student movement's demands for university divestment from weapons companies profiting from Israel's war on Gaza.

Khalil did not participate in the encampments himself, opting instead to negotiate with administrators and offer guidance to the students.

President Donald Trump has called the protests antisemitic and promised to deport foreign students who took part in them.