内容摘要：A camel herder crosses the road on the Yemeni island of Socotra on Sept. 23, 2024. (AP Photo/Annika Hammerschlag)

A camel herder crosses the road on the Yemeni island of Socotra on Sept. 23, 2024. (AP Photo/Annika Hammerschlag)

He was not able to speak to a lawyer, while fellow inmates said everyone there is deported within three days, Khan Suri said.“I was crying from inside, ‘How can this be happening?” he said. “A few hours back, I was in Georgetown teaching my students, talking about peace and conflict analysis.”

Khan Suri said his first seven or eight days of captivity were the same: “Same terror. Same fear. Same uncertainty. Same mockery of rule of law. Same mockery of due process.”“I was going more and more deeper, reaching to my abyss,” he added. “And I was discovering that the abyss also has more and more depth.”But he was still praying five times a day, uncertain which direction Mecca was.

“I was very strong like that, that God will help me. American Constitution will help me. American people will help me,” he said.Afterward, Khan Suri was transferred to a detention facility in Texas, where he said he slept on the floor of a crowded cell for the first two weeks. Eventually, he got his own cot.

And, finally, he was allowed to speak to his attorneys, which he said led to a change in treatment. Khan Suri, who is Muslim, soon received a Quran and then a prayer rug. As for the rug, he rolled it up like it was his young son.

“My eyes would become wet, and I would give that blanket a hug as my son so that this hug should reach him,” Khan Suri said. “And when I came back, he told me the same, that he was hugging a pillow.”For generations, villagers banged pots, shouted or burned dung to drive away elephants. But worsening droughts and shrinking resources have pushed the animals to raid villages more often, destroying crops and infrastructure and sometimes injuring or killing people.

Zimbabwe’s elephant population is estimated at around 100,000, nearly double the land’s capacity. The country hasn’t culled elephants in close to four decades. That’s because of pressure from wildlife conservation activists, and because the process is expensive, according to parks spokesman Tinashe Farawo.Conflicts between humans and wildlife such as elephants, lions and hyenas killed 18 people across the southern African country between January and April this year, forcing park authorities to kill 158 “trouble” animals during that period.

“Droughts are getting worse. The elephants devour the little that we harvest,” said Senzeni Sibanda, a local councilor and farmer, tending her tomato crop with cow dung manure in a community garden that also supports a school feeding program.Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority and the International Fund for Animal Welfare officers collar an elephant in the Hwange National Park, Zimbabwe, Tuesday, April 29, 2025. (AP Photo/Aaron Ufumeli)