April 30 (UPI) -- Columbia University student and DHS detainee Mohsen Mahdawi was released from federal custody Wednesday after a judge ordered it for the outspoken critic of Israel's war in Gaza.
The judge ruled Mahdawi, a permanent resident of the United States who was born and grew up in a refugee camp in the West Bank, could post bail.
He has lived in Vermont for 10 years and is scheduled to graduate from Columbia University in May. He had been detained in Vermont by Department of Homeland Security agents on April 14 during his naturalization interview and then held at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in the state.
Judge Geoffrey W. Crawford ordered Mahdawi released until the resolution of his habeas petition. The federal government asked that Crawford pause his release for seven days with a stay of the order, but the judge denied that request.
Once outside the courthouse, Mohsen met with supporters and led a chant of, "The people united will never be defeated." He also said, "We are pro-peace and anti-war."
He then added, "To my people in Palestine, I feel your pain, I see your suffering; and I see freedom and it is very, very soon," and aimed a comment at the Trump administration: "I am saying it clear and loud to President Trump and his Cabinet, I am not afraid of you."
Mahdawi, who is a resident with a green card, was a key organizer of pro-Palestinian protests at Columbia last year. ICE agents had attempted to move Mahdawi to a facility in Louisiana after he was detained, but a judge issued a temporary restraining order to keep him in Vermont, and that order was then extended by Judge Crawford. He was being held at the Northwest State Correctional Facility in St. Albans, Vt. until his release Wednesday.
NBC News has reported it was able to review several court documents that were filed under seal, and that the federal government opposed Mahdawi release because law enforcement records indicated Mahdawi allegedly admitted "to being involved in and supporting antisemitic acts of violence" and had "an interest in and facility with firearms for that purpose."
NBC News also reported that in 2015, the Windsor, Vt., Police Department reported a gun shop owner told officers that Mahdawi "supposedly told" the owner that he used to build machine guns "to kill Jews while he was in Palestine."
Mahdawi confirmed in his declaration to the court that he did visit a gun shop in Windsor, but is "absolutely certain that I never expressed the words the report falsely attributes to me, in that exchange or ever."
He also wrote, "I am a peaceful person and would never express wanting to harm or kill anyone," and expressed further that, "I am heartbroken to have such appalling words, which stand in complete contrast to my philosophy on life and spiritual beliefs, misattributed to me."
Mahdawi's lawyer Luna Droubi, partner of Beldock Levine and Hoffman LLP, said, "Their claims and actions are baseless, without evidence, and are a disgrace to the U.S. Constitution. We will keep fighting until Mohsen is free for good."
