WASHINGTON: An Indian researcher at a top university in the United States with a valid visa has been arrested and is under threat of expulsion, according to his employer and US authorities, who accuse him of ties to Hamas.

The arrest of Badar Khan Suri, a postdoctoral fellow at Georgetown University in the US capital, comes as fears mount in the scientific world that freedom of research is being challenged two months into US President Donald Trump’s new term.

On Wednesday, the French government condemned the expulsion of a French space scientist meant to attend a conference in Houston, after officials searched his smartphone and found what they called “hateful” messages against US policy.—AFP