Articles by Erik Uebelacker

Academics & Education

Mahmoud Khalil seeks $20 million — or an apology — from Trump for 3-month detention Khalil filed a claim against the government on Thursday in a bid to stop its continued deportation campaign against pro-Palestine protesters on college campuses.

July 10, 2025   

(Courthouse News) After 104 days in federal immigration custody, a stint that forced him to miss the birth of his first child, Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil is seeking $20 million from the Trump administration for his “politically motivated arrest,” according to his […]

Crime

Prosecutors say Iran offered ‘blood money’ to Russian mob in murder-for-hire plot Jurors are expected to start deliberating Thursday in the case of two men accused of trying to kill Iranian dissident Masih Alinejad.

March 19, 2025   

(Courthouse News) Federal prosecutors on Wednesday told a jury that Rafat Amirov and Polad Omarov, two supposed members of the Russian mob charged with the attempted murder for hire of Iranian journalist Masih Alinejad, took half a million dollars in “blood money” […]

Crime

Exiled Iranian journalist testifies against two men accused of trying to kill her Masih Alinejad described a suspicious encounter with her would-be hitman in the front yard of her Brooklyn home in 2022.

March 18, 2025   

(Courthouse News) Two summers ago, journalist and activist Masih Alinejad encountered a “gigantic” man in the driveway of her Brooklyn home. They had an awkward interaction. Alinejad said that the man was talking; she shouted, “What?” But the man kept speaking, and […]