Know Your Protest Rights: Free Mahmoud Khalil with Ben Wizner and Baher Azmy

At Liberty

News

4.8 • 585 Ratings

🗓️ 27 March 2025

⏱️ 54 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Mahmoud Khalil is a recent Columbia University graduate, activist, soon-to-be father, and U.S. green card holder. On March 8, he was unlawfully detained because of his speech in defense of Palestinian human rights. On this week’s episode of At Liberty, host W. Kamau Bell is joined by two members of Khalil’s legal team—the ACLU’s Ben Wizner and Baher Azmy from Center for Constitutional Rights—to discuss why his case should raise alarm bells for anyone who cares about free speech. Ben Wizner is director of the ACLU Speech, Privacy, and Technology Project. Baher Azmy is the legal director of the Center for Constitutional Rights. At Liberty is a production of the ACLU, and hosted by W. Kamau Bell. This episode was executive produced by Jessica Herman Weitz and Gwen Schroeder for the ACLU, and W. Kamau Bell, Kelly Rafferty, PhD, and Melissa Hudson Bell, PhD for Who Knows Best Productions. It was recorded at Skyline Studios in Oakland, CA. At Liberty is edited and produced by Erica Getto and Myrriah Gossett for Good Get.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Hey everyone, it's me, Debbie Kamau Bell. Welcome back to the ASLU's podcast at Liberty. And of course,
0:08.0	I'm your host. Every episode, I'm asking the big questions on the big issues affecting our
0:13.8	big country, especially questions affecting our hardest hit and most vulnerable communities.
0:19.1	And I'm calling on experts from the ACLU and beyond.
0:22.9	And they're going to give me lots of guidance.
0:24.8	As you all know, I need lots of guidance.
0:27.0	Last episode, we covered the current state of disability rights and envisioned a more
0:31.4	sustainable, thoughtful care system.
0:34.0	If you listen, you know that we talked about the 504 sit-in.
0:44.3	In 1977, a group of disabled protesters occupied a federal building in San Francisco for a record-breaking 25 days. These activists were brave and they were vocal, and they knew that their right to speak up could lead to their civil rights.
0:51.3	We're recording this on Monday, March 24th, and today we're exploring that First Amendment
0:57.9	right to free speech with the focus on the case of Bakmoud Khalil.
1:02.0	Halil is a recent Columbia University graduate student, activist soon to be father, and legal,
1:08.3	permanent resident of the United States of America.
1:10.9	That part is super important.
1:12.5	And on March 8th, he was unlawfully detained by ICE because of his speech and support of
1:17.7	Palestinian rights.
1:19.1	He is now on trial for exercising his voice, and that should alarm us all no matter what
1:23.5	side of the political aisle you're on.
1:25.7	All right, everybody, this is a big one.
1:27.6	Let's take a breath. You got this, and the ACL aisle you're on. All right, everybody, this is a big one. Let's take a breath.
1:28.7	You got this, and the ACLU's got you.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from At Liberty, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of At Liberty and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.