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The Guardian - US
The Guardian - US
World
Anna Betts

Palestinian student Mohsen Mahdawi returns to Columbia University: ‘They have failed to silence me’

a man in a blue academic robe with a keffiyeh draped over his shoulder smiles as he holds a his graduation cap in in the middle of other people in blue academic robes
Mohsen Mahdawi attends Columbia University’s graduation ceremony in New York on 21 May 2025. Photograph: Ryan Murphy/Reuters

Just more than four months after being arrested, detained and nearly deported by the Trump administration for his activism, Mohsen Mahdawi, the 34-year-old Palestinian student and US permanent resident, returned to Columbia University on Tuesday and vowed to continue speaking out.

“They have failed to silence me, and in fact, now I am more outspoken than before, and I will continue to work for peace and justice. I do this work not for myself alone – I do this for the future of children, whether they are Palestinians or Israelis,” he told the Guardian on Tuesday in his first interview since stepping back on to campus to begin his graduate studies.

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