The wife of a former college professor convicted of terrorism-related charges was seen at Columbia University’s encampment before the recent dramatic raid, as Mayor Eric Adams attributed the campus chaos to outside agitators.
Adams mentioned that the NYPD had begun identifying individuals who were not Columbia students before authorities authorised the removal of a group allegedly supportive of terrorism from an academic building on Tuesday night.
Although he did not name anyone specifically, Adams referred to an individual whose spouse had been arrested and convicted for terrorism at the federal level.
During a subsequent interview, Adams reiterated that “one of them was married to someone that was arrested for terrorism.”
Sami al-Arian, who pleaded guilty in 2005 to fundraising and providing support for the terrorist group Palestinian Islamic Jihad, had previously boasted on social media about his wife Nahla’s participation in anti-Israel protests at the Ivy League campus.
Adams declined to confirm whether the woman he mentioned was among those detained during the incident at Columbia University.
It remains unclear if Nahla al-Arian was present during the raid or if she had only joined the tent encampment the previous week.
