India, March 21 -- A US district court judge on Thursday blocked the deportation of Indian researcher Badar Khan Suri, following the arrest and threat of expulsion of the Georgetown University scholar for alleged Hamas ties.

According to a report by news agency AFP, judge Patricia Tolliver Giles of the Eastern District of Virginia Court ordered Suri "shall not be removed from the United States unless and until the court issues a contrary order."

The detention of Badar Khan Suri, a postdoctoral fellow at Georgetown University Washington DC, came as fears mount in the academic world that freedom of research and speech is being challenged two months into US President Donald Trump's new term.

Badar Khan Suri's lawyer demanded his release a...