Read Rumeysa Ozturk’s chilling account of her detention in her own words
In the most detailed account of her detention to date, Ozturk describes what followed after masked agents dragged her off the street—repeated asthma attacks, being asked if she was a “terrorist,” and confinement in filthy, overcrowded cells. | Rumeysa Ozturk, a Fulbright scholar currently detained at a facility in Louisiana, recounts her experience following her arrest by ICE agents on May 25, in a sworn declaration obtained by TRT World. The document, exclusively available to TRT World, was filed in federal court by her lawyers on April 10. ● Ozturk, 30, was detained shortly after her name and photo appeared on Canary Mission, an anonymously run blacklist site that claims to document individuals who “promote hatred of the USA, Israel, and Jews” on college campuses and beyond. [...] A Turkish citizen, Ozturk is among hundreds of students and professors profiled by Canary Mission since 2015 for expressing views the site deems anti-Israel or antisemitic. Other individuals recently spotlighted include Columbia University students Mahmoud Khalil on March 8 and Mohsen Mahdawi in the latest, on April 14.
■ The Zionist Destruction of American Higher Education (04/01/25)