Washington, DC – A federal judge in the US has ordered the government to send Rumeysa Ozturk, a pro-Palestine Turkish student, to Vermont to review her detention.
In a ruling on Friday, District Court Judge William S. Sessions determined that Ozturk, who is currently imprisoned in Louisiana, has provided “significant evidence” to support the claims that her detention violated her freedom of speech and due process.
In March, Ozturk was detained and her visa was suspended. Supporters claim that Tufts University was targeted because of a student government resolution that demanded that the school stop operating in Israeli companies. She co-authored an op-ed last year that criticised the school.
According to Sessions, Ozturk’s case needs to be heard in court in order for these claims to be evaluated.
He wrote, “The Court accepts that this case will continue in this Court with Ms. Ozturk physically present for the remainder of the proceedings.”
The judge set a bond hearing on May 9 for Ozturk’s request for a temporary release and gave the government until May 1 to transfer her.
In what critics claim is a government plan to confine detainees away from their supporters and attorneys and place them in conservative-leaning legal districts, Ozturk was detained in a detention facility in Louisiana.
On March 30, the Tufts University student was detained close to her Massachusetts home. On surveillance video from the incident, masked immigration officers grabbing her hands as they approached her on the street.
The incident was characterized as an abduction by critics.
Her student visa has been suspended as part of President Donald Trump’s administration’s extensive crackdown on foreign students who have protested or criticized Israel’s occupation of Gaza.
Sessions confirmed that the op-ed is the only real proof that the US government is using to detain and deport Ozturk.
Her argument is supported by her assertion that the government’s motivation or goal is to punish her for co-authoring an editorial in a campus newspaper that criticized the administration of Tufts University and fortify her political speech, Sessions said.
The government has not yet provided any proof that Ms. Ozturk’s detention had a different, legitimate motivation or goal.
He added that non-citizens living in the US are now covered by the First Amendment, which guarantees free speech.
A habeas corpus petition is the term used to describe the case Sessions is overseeing. Not Ozturk’s wider immigration push, but it challenges her detention.
Non-citizens file their cases with an immigration judge who is employed by the executive branch through a separate system where deportation cases are reviewed. Similar to the independent judiciary, it is not a separate entity from the government.
Advocates claim that immigration judges frequently “rubber-stamp” executive branch work decisions. Ozturk’s release on bail was earlier this week denied by a Louisiana immigration judge.
A board of immigration appeals, an administrative body, has the authority to hear immigration cases. Immigration can petition to appear in court of appeals, which is a component of the traditional court system, as a last resort.
The Trump administration has been arguing for years that the law enacts regulations that preclude it from affecting immigration issues, which in turn gives the president broad authority to rule over issues of free speech and due process.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio has used a flimsy section of the Immigration and Nationality Act to authorize deportations because it gives him the authority to remove non-citizens who he deems have “serious adverse foreign policy consequences” for the US.
However, Ozturk and other students facing deportation may be affected by a portion of Friday’s ruling.
Sessions refrained from assuming that administrative procedures could prevent detained immigrants from exercising their constitutional rights.
The government, according to the judge, is arguing that an immigration law “practically grants the unreviewable power to detain individuals for weeks or months, even if the detention is patently unconstitutional.”
Ethiopian runner Tesfaye Tsegaye Keress deftly positioned himself near the Techcombank Ho Chi Minh City International Marathon starting line in December after he deftly sliced his way through nearly 18, 000 runners.
Keress said his diminutive size – he stands just 1.62 metres (5.3ft) tall and weighs about 50kg (116 pounds) – allowed the 27-year-old to slink easily through the throngs of runners to secure a strategic spot near the front just before the starting pistol was fired, in what was billed as Vietnam’s biggest marathon.
Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam’s commercial capital, was where Keress had just arrived a few days prior. He was accompanied by fellow Ethiopian runner, Dereje Alemu Miko, who came to compete in the 21km (13-mile) half-marathon at the event where Keress would run the full 42.1km marathon.
The participation of Keress and Miko immediately piqued people’s interest in a race that consisted primarily of local Vietnamese runners in the thousands. Local media wanted to know who the competitors from East Africa were.
According to Keress, their trip to Vietnam was not solely due to their love of running, as Keress claimed to Al Jazeera.
Keress knew that taking first place in the Ho Chi Minh City marathon would earn him a $2, 500 cash prize.
He claimed that winning was crucial.
“I have a wife and two sons, and we live in Sendafa”, Keress said, naming his hometown in Ethiopia’s Oromia region, about 38km (24 miles) northeast of the capital, Addis Ababa.
We milk two cows and operate a chicken farm. We plan to expand our farm using the money from marathon races”, he said.
He would need to defeat Kenya’s Edwin Kiptoo, an East African who is currently the world’s best long-distance runner, in order to win.
Finding their feet on Vietnam’s streets
In Ethiopia, where Keress was born and who produced some of the world’s most renowned track athletes, Keress might be regarded as an average runner.
His personal best speed to complete a marathon is 2: 23: 50, which he achieved in 2023 in a marathon in Thailand. Although impressive, that speed would still prevent him from competing in the elite marathons because professional competitors in the Boston Marathon need to run at speeds of less than 2 hours, 13 minutes, respectively.
In Vietnam, however, Keress’s speed makes him a championship contender in a country where running has seen a steep rise in popularity.
Marathons have increased significantly in Vietnam over the past ten years, which is partly attributable to the country’s growing middle class’s desire to stay fit in its expanding, wealthy cities. There is also a new social side to running in Vietnam’s well-attended marathons, according to reports, which have seen , a steep rise in popularity since the mid-2010s.
Following a years-long decline during COVID, many people who were trying to stay healthy returned to running as a popular sport. Local news site VnExpress reported in 2023 that a total of 41 full marathon races, with some 264, 000 entrants, took place in 27 provinces and cities across Vietnam that year. That’s 10 more marathons than Vietnam did in 2022.
With hundreds of thousands of runners taking part in a plethora of marathons up and down this country of 100 million people, major private sponsors have stepped in with prize money.
High-performing athletes like Keress and Kiptoo are now attracting them from East Africa’s elite running centers thanks to Vietnam’s numerous marathons and lucrative prizes worth thousands of dollars for winners.
East African athletes have long been a dominant force in competitive running, with world-famous track stars like Kenya’s Eliud Kipchoge – who in 2019 became the first person , in recorded history to run a 42-km marathon in less than two hours – and Ethiopian Haile Gebrselassie who is considered one of the greatest long-distance runners in history, having set 27 world records.
Sporting scouts have long searched for promising talent in Kenya and Ethiopia, among other East African nations. Deals to compete in competitions around the world are often mediated by sport agents, who sponsor a runner and in return may take a cut of their winnings if successful. Additionally, there is a chance to capitalize on media coverage of individual and team victories gained from product and brand deals.
Such an arrangement brought Keress and Miko to compete in the Ho Chi Minh City marathon and half-marathon in December. A Thai promoter, who sponsors a team of runners, and who runs a business that specializes in energy supplements for athletes, both manage them.
Marathon running has also taken off in Thailand, along with a growing market for running gear and other services. Additionally, sponsors who sponsor brand names and their goods and services receive a high return when runners like Keress and Miko win races.
Ethiopian runners Dereje Alemu Miko, left, and Tesfaye Tsegaye Keress, right, shop for groceries in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam]Danh Nguyen/Al Jazeera]
From a celebrity athlete to a prize hunter in Vietnam
When Edwin Kiptoo – , who should not be confused with another younger Kenyan runner with the same name but of much greater international acclaim – first arrived in Vietnam in December 2023, he described how he was initially unprepared for the country and its costs.
With only 150, 000 Vietnamese dong (less than $6), Kiptoo arrived with the challenge of simply finding accommodation on the day of the race. In downtown Ho Chi Minh City, the cheapest room Kiptoo could find was double that price.
However, when Le Hoan, a neighborhood runner, made friends with Kiptoo the day before the race, they went to collect their running bibs. Learning of Kiptoo’s struggle to find somewhere cheap to stay, Le Hoan tried to help in the search for accommodation using a booking app. Still no success.
As Kiptoo had handed Le Hoan his passport during the search for somewhere to stay, the Vietnamese runner spotted that they were both born in the same year, and that the Kenyan’s birthday was on the same day as his wife’s. Le Hoan invited the Kenyan to his home, using the alignment of dates as a sign of good fortune. Over dinner with Le Hoan’s family, Kiptoo told them how he was running to support his family and had to save as much as possible.
On the eve of the massive Techcombank Ho Chi Minh City, Le Hoan paid for the runner’s stay in a hostel that night. The next day, Kiptoo would run faster than Vietnam’s two best marathon runners, Hoang Nguyen Thanh and Nguyen Van Lai, to win the race and pocket a $2, 500 cash prize on the spot.
“Mr. Hoan brought me home and served me meals with his family. He also rented me a hostel room for the night”, Kiptoo recounted to Al Jazeera. He said, “I offered to pay Hoan back after I won my first race, but he just declined.”
“The generosity of him and his family truly surprised me”, he added.
Le family members in Hanoi, Vietnam, in April 2024 [Danh Nguyen/Al Jazeera] Edwin Kiptoo, front left, and Le Hoan, front right
Kiptoo’s wins and public profile in Vietnam have rocketed since. He quickly rose to fame in Vietnam, and he is now sought after for his racing exploits. His winnings have also stacked up, earning an average of about $1, 000 each week for taking first place in races across the country.
But that was only the start.
In October 2024, Kiptoo signed a major sponsorship contract with sportswear company Do-Win Vietnam.
The business entered a “formal partnership with renowned runner Kiptoo” in a celebratory Facebook post!
“This collaboration will create new breakthroughs and further strengthen the brand’s position in the sports industry”, it said.
The agreement secures a visa that will allow Kiptoo to compete professionally in Vietnam, as well as paying for the runner’s living expenses, competition entrance fees, and crucially, secures a visa. In the past, visas and visa extensions for Africans in Vietnam have been problematic, partly due to a crackdown on foreigners involved in crime in the country.
Running for Kiptoo has a lot of security because he has a major sponsor behind him.
The 38-year-old, whose wife and daughter are still in Kenya, has even been given access to exclusive, publicly funded sports facilities and resources, which are typically reserved for provincial or national-level Vietnamese athletes.
Kiptoo said he has been able to fully dedicate his time to training, making him a force hard to beat in Vietnam’s marathons, despite the pressure of competing in the country.
“The support from Vietnamese people makes me feel at home”, Kiptoo told Al Jazeera.
Kiptoo’s success in Vietnam has not only earned him financial rewards, but it has also given him a sort of local celebrity status. He has been featured many times by local Vietnamese media because of his running success and his posts on Facebook receive thousands of reactions – mostly from his Vietnamese fans.
Vietnam remains a gamble for competitors.
A marathon, which usually lasts at least two hours for top-level runners, inherently carries risks as it challenges a person’s physical and mental limits.
Challenges confront African runners competing in Vietnam both during and after the race and throughout the many turns and turns their professional journey involves.
In March 2023, runners Kemboi Ezekiel from Kenya and Marta Tinsae Birehan from Ethiopia were full of hope on entering a race in Ho Chi Minh City after hearing that breaking the Vietnamese marathon record would win them a car. They discovered that the car prize was a one-time offer only available at the previous year’s race when they arrived in the country.
Despite their disappointment, both runners went on to compete. Marta unexpectedly collapsed while leading the women’s race, despite Ezekiel having little competition in the men’s race. She had mistakenly consumed an electrolyte drink at a water station, which upset her digestive system.
Even Kiptoo, who has won numerous Vietnam marathon championships and more experience, is unable to overcome difficulties. In late 2024, he was sponsored to compete in a marathon in Hanoi. A sponsor failed to register Kiptoo among the professional athletes competing due to a miscommunication. As a result, despite winning the marathon, Kiptoo only received an age-group prize of $200, rather than the $2, 100 winner’s takings. He claimed that “we all have to follow the rules,” and that he did not want to be upset about the outcome.
Running in the Ho Chi Minh City Marathon in December along an already familiar course and accustomed to the climate, Kiptoo cruised to victory over Keress and thousands of others to further cement his reign over the Vietnamese marathon scene.
Keress limped across the finish line, grimacing in pain, finishing just behind Kiptoo. He attributed his performance to fatigue from another recent marathon.
After receiving treatment in the recovery area, Keress’ pain subsided, but his frustration persisted until he realized he had won $1, 000 in prize money for third place, which helped him realize his goal of expanding his farm’s operation there. However, as his promoter will also take a cut of his winnings, his actual takings would not be so big.
The half marathon was won by his teammate Miko for $600.
Ethiopian runner Miko applies balm to teammate Keress’s leg before a race in Vietnam]Danh Nguyen/Al Jazeera]
Unpredictable risks
After their races, both runners were taken back to their hotel to rest before returning to Thailand, where they had been based for the previous six months in a training camp outside the capital, Bangkok. From travel and lodging to training plans, race entry and immigration visas, their Thai promoter is in charge of all aspects of their running careers in Southeast Asia.
For runners such as Keress and Miko, who have travelled little beyond their home countries, such management deals are indispensable. They described their Thai manager as a kind of father figure in an interview with Al Jazeera.
But the relationship seems closer to employee and employer, with the runners being very much bound by the overriding imperative of achieving good performance for their team and sponsor – in an unspoken power dynamic.
Keress and Miko described their plans to re-enteer Ethiopia and start living together.
They did not know how much prize money they would be bringing home with them as the cost of their travel expenses to competitions, accommodation and food are deducted from their winnings.
And not all marathons offer immediate pay for runners: some prizes take months to arrive, and many do not have financial security.
Despite the difficulty and uncertainty faced by prize-hunting runners in Vietnam, rumours about the country as a life-changing destination for athletes are spreading in East Africa, according to Kiptoo, Keress and others.
Kiptoo’s meager salary, which he earned before moving to Eldoret, in the Rift Valley region of Kenya, barely supported his family. Then COVID-19 hit and his family’s finances were devastated. He claimed that was the beginning of his commitment to running seriously as a means of escaping poverty.
His success in Vietnam has not only allowed him to support his family but also to buy several properties as investments in Kenya.
Kiptoo described how he never anticipated Vietnam to play such a significant role in his family’s daily life as an athlete.
“In Kenya, we watch a lot of Vietnamese films, but very few people actually know what the country is really like”, Kiptoo said.
At first, he didn’t know either.
Now with marathon running projected to continue growing in coming years, the draw of Vietnam for African runners is not likely to wane soon.
“Perspective more Kenyan athletes will visit this area in the future to compete in running competitions. But it’s not easy”, he said.
The 2025 World Press Photo of the Year features a poignant image of a nine-year-old amputee from Gaza. In an Israeli airstrike, Mahmoud Ajjour lost both arms. Samar Abu Elouf, a Palestinian photographer, took his portrait for The New York Times. Jjour discussed regaining his life and pursuing his national goal of regaining his life with Al Jazeera.
As Christians celebrate Good Friday in the besieged and bombarded enclave, Israeli strikes on Gaza have claimed the lives of at least 58 Palestinians in one day.
More than half of the victims were in Gaza City and northern Gaza, according to medical sources who spoke to Al Jazeera on Friday. In addition, deadly attacks took place in the south of the Palestinian Strip, including in Khan Younis and Rafah.
Israel’s military reported that troops were stationed near Rafah’s Shaboura and Tal as-Sultan areas, as well as in northern Gaza, where large areas of Gaza City are now under Israeli control.
Israel Katz, Israel’s defense minister, reiterated on Friday that Israel intended to pursue its war goals.
He stated in a statement that the Israeli army is currently working toward a decisive victory in all ways, including the release of the hostages and Hamas in Gaza.
In Gaza, however, the attacks caused Palestinian Christians to keep holding temperate gatherings during Easter.
Ihab Ayyad, who spoke to Al Jazeera from a nearby church, claimed that he used to gather with other believers and go to his neighbors’ homes to celebrate each year.
We didn’t go to the museum this year because of the total destruction that has occurred all over, according to Ayyad, who said the Israeli occupation forces have levelled the majority of my relatives’ and my neighbors’ homes. “Many of my neighbors and relatives have been killed or displaced elsewhere.” Because we are deeply depressed, we haven’t celebrated.
Ramez al-Soury claimed to have traveled for the holy week from Gaza to Bethlehem or Jerusalem.
However, Gaza is now “atmosphere of war.” “Everywhere, there is a death odor. He claimed that the smell of murder and destruction is putting a lot of pressure on us.
Hani Mahmoud, a journalist from Gaza City, claimed that the Christian community is restraining their faith and gathering in one of the world’s oldest churches in Gaza without defiance but in devotion.
He said that Good Friday is the strength of those who still believe in peace despite the fact that the world is merely a stage for violence and death in Gaza.
West Bank settler violence
In the West Bank, Rituals were also held to celebrate Good Friday and Easter.
In the area, there are about 50 000 Palestinian Christians. However, Israeli authorities forbid them from visiting Jerusalem, making it difficult for many people to attend those celebrations.
According to Al Jazeera Arabic on Friday, Israeli settlers and the military also reportedly attacked Palestinians on their land in the Salfit governorate of the occupied West Bank, bringing about a heightened mood.
A Palestinian was hurt in the attack, according to the Palestine Red Crescent.
Local sources also reported to Al Jazeera Arabic that the Israeli army guarded the town of Beita when dozens of settlers stormed Jabal al-Urma, a hill.
Israeli nationals who illegally reside on private Palestinian lands in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem are known as the “settlers.”
In the midst of uncertainty around the world, the Chinese president makes a trip to three Southeast Asian countries.
Xi Jinping, the president of China, is currently touring Southeast Asia with three countries.
In light of the global uncertainty brought on by US President Donald Trump’s tariffs on 185 nations, Xi wants to win favor in the region by portraying China as a reliable source of stability.
China’s main trading partner is Southeast Asia. However, Vietnam and Cambodia are two of the many nations that have close business ties with the US.
During the 90-day pause on tariffs, some have already reached out to the White House in an effort to reach a deal.
According to experts, Trump’s conciliatory measure aims to isolate China by excluding it from the world.
Did Xi Jinping actually defeat the governments of Vietnam, Malaysia, and Cambodia to protest Trump’s crippling trade barriers?
Can Beijing use the tariff negotiations to thwart Washington’s global effort to isolate it?
Presenter: Dareen Abughaida
Guests:
Director, China Market Research Group, Shaun Rein
Hinrich Foundation’s Head of Trade Policy is Deborah Elms.
An international committee established last year to raise awareness of Rached Ghannouchi’s imprisonment claims he is being held “unjustly” and on “trumped-up charges” in honor of the second anniversary of his arrest.
The former Tunisian parliament speaker and former leader of the Ennahdha party was imprisoned and ordered by the International Committee for Solidarity with Rached Ghannouchi to release him immediately.
More than 15 cases against Ghannouchi have been brought forward, according to a statement released on Thursday, and “several unjust convictions and sentences have been sentenced.”
The committee said that the most recent of these was a 22-year prison sentence that was handed down in February on charges of plotting against state security. “He has no connection to this case,” the committee said.
Ghannouchi was given a three-year sentence earlier this year for making allegations that his party received foreign contributions.
The 83-year-old, who has been the country’s president’s main rival, was detained in April 2023 and given a one-year prison sentence on suspicion of incitement.
He has spoken out against Saied frequently and became the most well-known person to be detained as part of the president’s ongoing consolidation of power. He was elected in 2019 and has overseen a wave of legal reforms and repression that grew his rule.
The committee stated in its statement that “these unjust trials and sentences occur within the context of a widespread repressive campaign led by Kais Saied’s regime, which targets opposition voices from all backgrounds, represses organized action in all its forms, controls the media and civil society, and silences critical voices.”
Saied’s government must “exploit the judiciary as a tool for settling political scores,” it said.
An era of political prisoners
Human Rights Watch (HRW) called on Tunisian government to halt its crackdown on opposition and release all detainees just days prior to the committee’s statement.
In Tunisia, Ghannouchi is being tried on conspiracy charges in the wake of the trial of prominent opposition figures, according to the rights group.
HRW’s report, which was released on Wednesday, reinforced the concerns of opposition leaders over Saied’s authoritarian rule, which was established when he dissolved parliament in 2021 and became legally able to rule by decree.
Saied’s action was deemed a coup by the opposition. He has refuted these accusations, claiming instead that he is attempting to end the country’s political unrest and widespread corruption.
According to the report, Tunis had transformed arbitrary detention into a framework for repressive measures.
Bassam Khawaja, HRW’s deputy director for Middle East and North Africa, said, “Said’s government has returned the country to a time of political prisoners, robbing Tunisians of hard-won civil liberties.”
![Ethiopian runner Miko applies balm to teammate Keress's leg before a race in Vietnam [Danh Nguyen]](https://i0.wp.com/www.aljazeera.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/IMG_5182-1743152733.jpg?w=696&ssl=1)
