Judge orders release of Georgetown researcher arrested by ICE after allegedly spreading Hamas propaganda

A federal judge on Wednesday ordered the release of Badar Khan Suri, the Georgetown University postdoctoral researcher detained by immigration officials in March for allegedly spreading propaganda in support of Hamas.

Federal Judge Patricia Tolliver Giles issued her order from the bench during a court hearing in Virginia, saying that the government presented no evidence to refute Suri's claims that he was being punished for his views on the war in Gaza.

Suri, who is married to an American citizen, was being held in federal detention in Texas following his arrest.

Suri, an Indian national in the U.S. on a student visa, was accused of "actively spreading Hamas propaganda and promoting antisemitism on social media," a senior Department of Homeland Security (DHS) official said in a statement in March.

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"Suri has close connections to a known or suspected terrorist, who is a senior advisor to Hamas," the DHS statement continued. DHS did not name the suspected terrorist or Hamas advisor.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio determined on March 15 that Suri’s activities and presence in the U.S. "rendered him deportable" under the Immigration and Nationality Act, the senior official said. The act is a rarely used legal statute that gives Rubio sweeping power to deport those who pose "potentially serious adverse foreign policy consequences for the United States."

Suri was duly granted a visa to enter the U.S. to perform doctoral research on peace building in Iraq and Afghanistan, a Georgetown University spokesperson said in a statement to Fox News following his March arrest.

Fox News' Bill Melugin contributed to this report.