From perp walk to grad walk.
Freed Columbia University protester Mohsen Mahdawi was allowed to stride across the graduation stage Monday — just three weeks after being cut loose from an immigration jail.
The 34-year-old, who was draped in a keffiyeh, paused in the middle of the stage as he listened to some of his fellow grads cheer him on.
Palestinian Columbia University student Mohsen Mahdawi walks during the school’s graduation ceremony at the School of General Studies in New York City on Monday, May 19, 2025. Anadolu via Getty ImagesMahdawi, a legal permanent resident for 10 years, was nabbed by the feds in Vermont on April 14 during an interview about finalizing his US citizenship.
The Trump administration had accused Mahdawi of engaging in “threatening rhetoric and intimidation” against Jewish students during Columbia’s anti-Israel protests.
He ended up being released by a judge two weeks later — and used his graduation to attack the current administration.
“The Trump administration wanted to rob me of this opportunity. They wanted me to be in a prison, in prison clothes, to not have education and to not have joy or celebration,” a defiant Mahdawi said.
“It’s very mixed emotions.”
Mahdawi, who walked away with a bachelor’s degree in philosophy from Columbia’s School of General Studies, went on to rip the Ivy League – accusing the school of betraying him and other students.
Mohsen Mahdawi (L) and Mahmoud Khalil participate in a pro-Palestinian protest at Columbia University, Thursday, Oct. 12, 2023, in New York. AP“The senior administration is selling the soul of this university to the Trump administration, participating in the destruction and the degradation of our democracy,” Mahdawi claimed.
He also accused Columbia’s leadership of denying his pleas for protection prior to his arrest.
While the feds haven’t accused Mahdawi of committing a crime, they’ve argued that he and other rabble-rousing students should be deported for beliefs that may undermine US foreign policy.
Mahdawi (L) graduated on Monday just three weeks after being cut loose from an immigration jail. Anadolu via Getty ImagesIn court papers filed by the Trump admin amid their fight to keep Mahdawi locked up, the feds alleged Mahdawi was once accused of telling a Vermont gun store owner that he used to “kill Jews while he was in Palestine” with modified automatic firearms that he built himself.
In arguing their case, the Trump admin honed in on a visit Mahdawi made to the gun store in the summer of 2015, which resulted in the owner alerting local cops, according to the court filing.
“The gun shop owner told Windsor, Vermont, police officers that Mr. Mahdawi had visited his store twice, expressing an interest in learning more about firearms and buying a sniper rifle and an automatic weapon and that he ‘had considerable firearm experience and used to build modified 9mm submachine guns to kill Jews while he was in Palestine’,” the papers charged.
Mahdawi, in his response, noted that he was interviewed by an FBI agent shortly after but denied ever making the remarks, the court papers state.
“Mahdawi confirmed that he had visited the gun shop and the Precision Museum but that he had never discussed buying weapons or killing Jews,” the filing noted at the time.
“Mr Mahdawi states that the FBI agent was satisfied with his explanation and closed the investigation,” the docs stated.
Columbia University hasn’t commented on Mahdawi’s graduation or his accusations.
With Post wires






