SerpApi.Org
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A U.S. appeals court has overturned a lower court’s order last year to free Palestinian activist Mohsen Mahdawi from immigration detention, ruling that the judge who ordered his release didn’t have the legal authority.
The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New York concluded on Tuesday that a federal judge in Vermont who ordered the graduate student’s release was prohibited under the Immigration and Nationality Act from considering his habeas petition.
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“We conclude that the district court should not have reached this question because it did not have subject matter jurisdiction over the habeas petition,” the court said.
The decision opens the door for the re-arrest of Mahdawi, who argued that his detention as a permanent U.S. resident was unlawful retaliation for his protected speech.
The American Civil Liberties Union had earlier said that his habeas case protected him against re-detention or deportation amid his appeals.
With the court’s decision on Tuesday, the nonprofit organization warned that “the government could lock up any non-citizen, including to censor and punish their lawful speech, with no federal court having the power to intervene.
“This is an extreme misreading of the law that will put all of our rights in danger,” it said in a statement. Mahdawi is protected from detention while his case continues, it added.
