After a year of detention.. US authorities release Palestinian activist Liqa Kurdi on bail

US authorities have ended the detention of Palestinian activist Liqa Kurdi, 33, after a judicial decision to release her on financial bail from an immigrant detention center in Texas. Kurdi is the last of the pro-Palestinian activists who remained in detention as part of a widespread campaign targeting participants in protests against the Israeli war on the Gaza Strip.

The legal team for the Palestinian citizen, whose origins are from the occupied West Bank, confirmed that she left the 'Pryorland' detention center in Alvarado on Monday. Liqa is scheduled to travel to New Jersey to reunite with her family after a forced absence of more than twelve months behind bars.

The details of the case date back to 2024, when US police arrested Liqa Kurdi while she was participating in a student sit-in at Columbia University condemning the Israeli aggression. Although immigration authorities claimed she overstayed her study visa, her lawyer stressed that she was in the process of obtaining permanent residency before her arrest.

During a brief press conference after her release, Kurdi expressed her overwhelming joy at freedom with a smile that never left her face, noting the difficulty of the experience she went through. She said that her feeling of freedom is indescribable after spending a full year in harsh detention conditions, affirming her steadfastness despite all the pressures exerted against her.

For its part, Amnesty International revealed a humanitarian tragedy that compounded the suffering of the Palestinian activist, as she lost 175 members of her family due to continuous Israeli raids on Gaza since October 2023. Her case has garnered widespread sympathy, with members of Congress and human rights organizations demanding an end to her arbitrary detention.

The release decision issued by the immigration judge last Friday was conditional on the payment of a financial bail of $100,000, with the consideration of her deportation case ongoing. In her ruling, the judge described the arguments presented by the US government to prevent her release as 'deceptive' and not based on solid legal grounds.

Liqa's health had significantly deteriorated last month, as she was transferred to the hospital after suffering an epileptic seizure resulting from psychological stress and ill-treatment. The Palestinian activist described the detention environment as 'dirty and inhumane,' which prompted political figures such as the Mayor of New York to intervene directly with the US administration.

This incident comes in the context of a broader repressive campaign launched by President Donald Trump's administration against the student and popular movement supporting Palestine in American universities. This campaign included threats to deport foreign protesters and withdraw funding from educational institutions, under claims of combating 'anti-Semitism,' which activists see as an attempt to silence critics of the occupation.

I don't know what to say.. I am finally free after a full year of detention.