Mapheze Saleh is a part of the class of 2026 at the Georgetown University
The US Department of Homeland Security has accused Badar Khan Suri of using social media to propagate antisemitic and pro-Hamas propaganda. His wife Mapheze Saleh is also being named among the accused.
Donald Trump is still cracking down on “pro-Palestine sympathisers.” The US government targeted Badar Khan Suri, another Indian scholar, a few days after Ranjani Srinivasan, an Indian student, self-deported from the US when her visa was revoked. Federal immigration officials have detained the Georgetown University scholar Badar Khan Suri in Washington, DC, and are reportedly pursuing his deportation. Know about the involvement of his wife Mapheze Saleh.
Who is Mapheze Saleh, wife of Badar Khan Suri and Georgetown University student linked to Hamas, bio, father, husband, education, religion and Instagram
.@CAMERAonCampus reveals that Mapheze Saleh, a graduate student at @Georgetown is the daughter of a Hamas senior adviser.
Her student biography, since deleted from the university's website, states that she “has worked with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Gaza”: also known as… pic.twitter.com/vMxXzVrPL9
— Embassy of Israel to the USA (@IsraelinUSA) February 13, 2025
Federal immigration authorities have detained Badar Khan Suri, an Indian-origin scholar who was on a student visa at Georgetown University, where he was teaching and studying. Online, the news has received a lot of attention. According to Politico, the action is a part of the Trump administration’s efforts to target student activists who the government believes are opposing US foreign policy.
Monday night, Georgetown researcher Badar Khan Suri was abducted by masked DHS agents who informed him his visa had been revoked. He is now is facing deportation under the same immigration law provision used against Mahmoud Khalil.
Suri, an Indian national on a student visa and… pic.twitter.com/ITULpp3Pnt
— Sana Saeed (@SanaSaeed) March 20, 2025
According to the report, Suri’s attorney, Hassan Ahmad, has filed a lawsuit for his immediate release, claiming that he has no criminal history and that Suri is only being punished because his wife is Palestinian despite her having US citizenship. She is a Muslim by religion.
According to the newspaper, Suri’s attorney has stated in the petition that Suri was not charged with any crimes. It claims that his wife Mapheze Saleh, a US citizen, is the target of the attack due to her Palestinian ancestry. Saleh is accused of having ties to Hamas and has previously worked for Al Jazeera.
Mapheze, a first-year student from Gaza, earned her bachelor’s degree in journalism and information at the Islamic University of Gaza, Palestine and a master’s degree in conflict analysis and peace building from the Nelson Mandela Centre for Peace and Conflict Resolution at Jamia Millia Islamia in New Delhi, Indi and prior to joining the MAAS program at the Georgetown University, Mapheze worked as a researcher at the Qatar Embassy in New Delhi.
She has also previously served as Executive Director at Indo-Pal Foundation and as contributing writer for the Middle East Monitor, Al Jazeera, and various Palestinian media outlets. She has worked with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Gaza and also has a passion for writing short stories and a keen interest in photography, art, and poetry. She joined the MAAS program to engage in a stimulating intellectual environment and to interact with students, scholars, and practitioners from diverse backgrounds and is a part of the class of 2026.
Saleh is a first-year master of arts student in Arab Studies at Georgetown University’s Center for Contemporary Arab Studies.
The petition claims that because the couple supports Palestinian rights, they have been singled out and harassed on anonymous far-right websites on numerous occasions.
🚨 Hi, Pam.👋 @AGPamBondi
This is Mapheze Saleh. Her father, Ahmed Yousef, was an adviser for Hamas. She has stated that Oct 7 was an "act of resistance" and has expressed hatred for the United States, declaring: “America is the plague.”
She's a grad student at Georgetown. pic.twitter.com/2fZyNB2DFg
— NizNellie3 (@NizNellie3) March 11, 2025
Saleh’s father, Ahmed Yousef, was a “senior political adviser to the Hamas leadership,” according to a 2018 Hindustan Times article cited by the Politico.
Suri was a foreign exchange student who has been “actively spreading Hamas propaganda and promoting antisemitism on social media,” according to a statement from the Department of Homeland Security spokesman Tricia McLaughlin posted on X. Suri has close contacts to “a known or suspected terrorist, who is a senior advisor to Hamas,” according to Laughlin.
The case was submitted on Tuesday to a federal court located in Alexandria, Virginia. According to Suri’s appeal, he was sent to a facility in Virginia and was anticipated to be transferred to a detention facility in Texas shortly after, the newspaper continued.
Solidarity with Badar Khan Suri—targeted for nothing but his principles. No charges, no record, just a Palestinian wife & a refusal to cheer on genocide. In America today, opposing the murder of children makes you a threat.
The U.S. demands loyalty to slaughter. https://t.co/tIYI2nakeS
— Nerdeen Kiswani (@NerdeenKiswani) March 20, 2025