Federal Judge Orders Immediate Release of Tufts University Student Rümeysa Öztürk After 6 Weeks in Detention

Gloria Pazmino / CNN

Rumeysa Ozturk in a photograph provided by her family. (photo: Ozturk Family)

09 May 25

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A federal judge in Vermont ordered the immediate release of Rümeysa Öztürk, a Tufts University doctoral student from Turkey, on Friday. She was detained by federal immigration officers near her Massachusetts home on March 25.

Öztürk was detained a year after co-authoring a campus newspaper op-ed that was critical of Tufts University’s response to the war in Gaza

Her detention was part of a series of high-profile arrests of non-citizens students who participated in protests. Her detention has sparked widespread protests and raised concerns over free speech and due process.

The Tufts University student spent the last six weeks in a Louisiana immigration detention center.

Öztürk, who has not been charged with any crime was accused by the Trump administration of participating in activities in support of Hamas. Neither the administration or attorneys for the Department of Justice presented any evidence of her alleged activities in court.

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