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Yousof Azizi

Protest Demands Freedom For Student Anti-War Activist Yousof Azizi

May 7, 2026 Cameron McLaren, Fight Back! News. , , ,
Washington, DC – On Sunday, May 3, about 15 protesters gathered again outside the Customs and Border Patrol headquarters to protest the ICE detainment of Yousof Azizi, a PhD student and outspoken anti-war advocate. Azizi was kidnapped on April 13 while on his way home from dropping off his two children at school. Since then, he has been transferred at least twice, and has been repeatedly denied access to his lawyer and allowed only limited contact family. Chant leaders opened the program with calls such as “I-C-E, we don't need ‘em, we demand Yousof’s freedom!” and “CBP stop the lies, speaking out is not a crime!”

PhD Student Yousof Azizi Is Illegally Abducted, Imprisoned And Abused

April 24, 2026 The Yousof Azizi Defense Committee, Popular Resistance. , , ,
Maryland - Without warning, on April 13, after returning home from dropping off his 11 year-old daughter at school and his 3 year-old son at daycare, public policy PhD student Yousof Azizi was abducted by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents in front of his home in Germantown, MD on fabricated charges regarding his visa status. Azizi and his wife, Aliyeh Hashemi, who recently completed her PhD in the field of health, have been living in the United States for over a decade and have complied with all visa requirements throughout that time. Both of their children were born in the United States.

Washington DC Protest Demands Freedom For Yousof Azizi

April 22, 2026 Cameron McLaren, Fight Back! News. , , , ,
Washington, DC – On Saturday, April 18, about 20 protesters gathered outside the Customs and Border Patrol headquarters to protest the ICE detainment of Yousof Azizi, a PhD student and outspoken anti-war activist. On Monday, April 13, Azizi was on his way home from dropping off his two children at school when ICE agents kidnapped him. Since then, he has been transferred first to a detention facility in Louisiana, then again to Arizona, against his will. Azizi has also been denied access to his lawyer, and allowed limited contact with his wife.

The Arrest Of Yousof Azizi And The Collapse Of ‘Free Speech’

April 19, 2026 Joshua Scheer, Scheer Post. , , ,
Inspired by the growing campaign to free Yousof Azizi, I looked deeper into his case—and what unfolds is not an anomaly, but a warning. This is what the erosion of academic freedom looks like in real time. A scholar taken. A voice removed. A mind deemed dangerous not for violence, but for dissent. Under the Trump regime, the university is no longer a sanctuary for inquiry—it is a hunting ground. The lecture hall gives way to surveillance. The visa becomes a leash. And the line between scholarship and subversion is redrawn by power. This brief report pulls together the fragments of a case that exposes something larger: a system increasingly intolerant of independent thought, where intellectual life itself is treated as a threat.

Free Yousof Azizi!

April 17, 2026 The Yousof Azizi Defense Committee, Popular Resistance. , , , , ,
Yousof Azizi, a final-year PhD student in public policy at the University of Virginia, was arrested on the morning of Tuesday, April 14, in front of his home by ICE forces, and up to this moment he has not been allowed to meet with his lawyer. ICE officials have informed him that he will soon be transferred to a detention camp for undocumented immigrants in Louisiana. This arrest is highly questionable, because the duty of ICE forces is to detain undocumented immigrants, while Mr. Azizi holds a valid visa and absolutely no deficiencies exist in his visa record.
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