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Protests erupt after PhD student Rumeysa Ozturk’s abduction by masked US agents

Masked agents abducted PhD student Rumeysa Ozturk in Somerville on 25 March. Focusing on her opposition to Israel’s genocide in Gaza, the US government revoked her visa. Critics have called her kidnapping a “chilling violation of civil liberties“.

Rumeysa Ozturk: persecuted for speaking out against genocide

It appears that Ozturk became a target for persecution because she co-authored an article in a student newspaper opposing genocide and calling for divestment from companies complicit in violations of international law. She also apparently attended anti-genocide protests. The Trump administration has provided no evidence for its own defamatory allegations.

Ozturk’s attorney said on 26 March that she was “unaware of her whereabouts” and had “not been able to contact her”. She was also aware of “no charges” against her client. A database later suggested authorities had taken her out of state to “an ICE processing center in Louisiana”. Her attorney asserted:

Based on patterns we are seeing across the country, her exercising her free speech rights appears to have played a role in her detention

The article that Ozturk co-authored was peaceful and sensible, calling for “the equal dignity and humanity of all people”. But because it criticised Israel’s violations of international law and called for divestment, it made her a target for “a massive blacklisting and doxxing operation directed from Israel”. Canary Mission (absolutely no relation at all to the Canary) is “a key intelligence asset for the Ministry of Strategic Affairs, a highly secretive intelligence organization that is largely focused on the United States, and the Shin Bet security service”. It gets its money from wealthy, anonymous donors, and aims to “silence anti-Israel dissent”. And that’s what it did by alleging Ozturk’s engagement in “anti-Israel activism in March 2024” (i.e. the article).

The US struggle for free speech

Ozturk’s kidnapping comes as other anti-genocide students have also faced state persecution on behalf of Israel. In particular, there has been mass solidarity with Mahmoud Khalil, a prominent anti-genocide protester in New York whom the Trump administration detained and has been seeking to deport.

On 26 March, hundreds of people in Somerville came out to protest Ozturk’s abduction:

As human rights activist Kashif Chaudhry said, the Trump administration’s assault on free speech is simply “to shield a genocidal state from criticism”. He added that:

Criticizing and condemning Israel’s actions isn’t just a moral duty — it has become the litmus test for free speech in America today.

The American Civil Liberties Union, meanwhile, has stressed:

Nobody should be disappeared from the streets of Somerville – or anywhere in America.

Everyone should be alarmed by the video of Rumesya Ozturk being handcuffed and taken away by agents. The government must immediately release her.

Nobody should be disappeared from the streets of Somerville – or anywhere in America.Everyone should be alarmed by the video of Rumesya Ozturk being handcuffed and taken away by agents. The government must immediately release her.www.bostonglobe.com/2025/03/26/m…

— ACLU of Massachusetts (@aclum.bsky.social) 2025-03-26T20:07:29.282Z

Featured image via screengrab

By Ed Sykes

This post was originally published on Canary.