Wife of jailed Columbia graduate Mahmoud Khalil accepts diploma on his behalf in symbolic ceremony

The wife of jailed Columbia University student Mahmoud Khalil has accepted a diploma on his behalf in a symbolic ceremony held for the Palestinian activist on Sunday.

Noor Abdallah and their newborn son, Deen, whom she birthed last month, received the diploma during an alternative 'People’s Graduation' ceremony held by the 'People's University for Palestine' -  a grassroots educational and activist initiative in US, Canada, and UK universities.

Images shared online showed Abdallah carrying her baby with a Palestinian flag as she got up to receive the diploma during the event held at St. Paul and St. Andrew United Methodist Church in New York City.

According to photographs shared online, Hollywood star Susan Sarandon, a long-time vocal supporter of the Palestinian cause, and Palestinian activist Mohammed El-Kurd, from the occupied West Bank, were included in the programme.

"The people confer this diploma upon Mahmoud Khalil," read the certificate.

"Today, too, even if the public has yet to fully grasp it, it is students who steer us towards truth and justice."

Abdallah read out a message from Khalil, who would have received his International Studies Master's diploma later this week at Columbia.

"Thank you for holding me in your hearts today. It has been two months since I was taken from my family and from you, detained simply for speaking the truth about Palestine," she said.

"Columbia University, the place where we sought knowledge, justice, and truth, chose silence instead of solidarity. It failed me, but you didn’t. You showed up, you reminded me that while institutions may abandon us, the people never will.

"Today, I want to say congratulations, you’ve made it through, perhaps not with degrees but with your voices, your integrity, and your compassion intact.

"I’m endlessly proud to be among you, and I carry your love with me every day. Please keep carrying mine," Khalil’s message concluded.

Khalil, 30, remains in federal custody in Louisiana as he awaits a decision from a federal judge about his possible release. He was taken from his home in March by US immigration officers, ICE, in the presence of his then-pregnant wife. He remains without charges since his arrest.

The Palestinian student was born in the Syrian capital and became a permanent US resident last year.

Earlier this month, District Court Judge Michael Farbiarz in Newark, New Jersey, instructed the Trump administration to detail the legal precedent for its plan to deport Khalil.

In recent months, the Trump administration has cracked down on pro-Palestine students at US colleges over their activism, accusing them of "antisemitism" and of being "Hamas supporters".

One of them was Palestinian activist and Columbia student Mohsen Mahdawi, who graduated on Monday, less than three weeks after his release from an immigration jail, earning a bachelor's degree in philosophy.

Mahdawi, a 34-year-old legal resident of the US, was detained during an April citizenship interview in Vermont. He was released two weeks later by a judge, who likened the government’s actions to McCarthyist repression.

Federal officials have not accused Mahdawi of committing a crime but argued that he and other student activists should be deported for beliefs that may "undermine US foreign policy".

Mahdawi was born in a refugee camp in the West Bank and moved to the United States in 2014. At Columbia, he organised campus protests and co-founded the Palestinian Student Union with Khalil.

After his graduation, Mahdawi joined a vigil just outside Columbia’s gates, raising a photograph of his classmate Khalil.

Another student, Badar Khan Suri, a Georgetown scholar from India, was released last week after spending two months in immigration detention.

He was arrested at his home in Virginia by ICE agents, allegedly over his wife’s Palestinian links.

According to The New York Times, Suri’s wife, Mapheze Saleh, is the daughter of Ahmed Yousef, a former adviser to assassinated Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh.

"I was able to attain my freedom thanks to the dedicated efforts of my attorneys and my steadfast faith in the Constitution and the judiciary," Suri said in a statement on Monday, as seen by The New Arab.

"I hope very soon Mahmoud [Khalil] will be holding his son, and all other students still in detention will reunite with their loved ones."

Harvard grants terminated

The prestigious US university has been under scrutiny since Trump took office over accusations of "antisemitism", with the current administration freezing or ending federal grants and contracts worth nearly $3 billion in recent weeks.

In the latest decision to slash funds, the US Department of Health and Human Services said on Monday it was terminating $60 million in federal grants to Harvard, saying the Ivy League institution failed to address antisemitic harassment and ethnic discrimination on campus.

Trump’s administration has accused Harvard of continuing to consider ethnicity when reviewing student applications and of allowing discrimination against Jews as a result of the pro-Palestinian student protest movement that rocked American campuses last year.

"Due to Harvard University’s continued failure to address antisemitic harassment and race discrimination, HHS is terminating multiple multi-year grant awards ... over their full duration," the health department said in a post on X on Monday.

The university previously said it "cannot absorb the entire cost" of the frozen grants, and was working with researchers to help them find alternative funding.

It is also suing the Trump administration over its decision to cut grants.

(The New Arab, Agencies)