Featured Session: The Guardian in Conversation with Mahmoud Khalil on the Cost of Dissent

{
  "id": "PP1149185",
  "track": "Culture",
  "focus_area": null,
  "category": "Featured Session",
  "event_id": "PP1149185",
  "event_type": "panel",
  "format": "Featured Session",
  "genre": null,
  "subgenre": null,
  "name": "Featured Session: The Guardian in Conversation with Mahmoud Khalil on the Cost of Dissent",
  "presented_by": null,
  "publish_at": "2026-02-10T10:50:00.000-06:00",
  "reservable": true,
  "reservable_id": "PP1149185",
  "reserved": false,
  "date": "2026-03-15",
  "end_time": "2026-03-15T11:00:00.000-05:00",
  "start_time": "2026-03-15T10:00:00.000-05:00",
  "message": null,
  "image": null,
  "credentials": [
    {
      "name": "Music Badge",
      "type": "music"
    },
    {
      "name": "Platinum Badge",
      "type": "platinum"
    },
    {
      "name": "Innovation Badge",
      "type": "innovation"
    },
    {
      "name": "Film & TV Badge",
      "type": "filmtv"
    }
  ],
  "contributors": [
    {
      "id": 10182,
      "company": "The Guardian",
      "credential_types": [
        "filmtv",
        "innovation",
        "music"
      ],
      "entity_id": 1949922,
      "name": "Betsy Reed",
      "speaker_types": [],
      "title": "Us Editor",
      "image": {
        "alt_text": "Betsy Reed",
        "credit": null,
        "url": "https://images.sxsw.com/jk0Ghg_WUXFe-AwO939zx2SgHrw=/99x35:1536x1472/600x600/images.sxsw.com/48/c11fecfd-b2d2-4056-9e8b-f23743e92358/pcid-888076"
      },
      "speaker_type": "Speaker",
      "details": "An accomplished editor with more than 20 years of media experience, Betsy joined the Guardian in September 2022 after serving as editor-in-chief at The Intercept for seven years. During her tenure, the organization developed a reputation for agenda-setting investigative journalism, winning several prestigious awards, including a Polk Award, and for successfully establishing a journalism-driven membership program. Under Betsy's leadership, the Guardian US has embarked on a significant expansion, adding more than 30 journalists as well as new coverage areas, including investigations, US soccer, and wellness. Prior to joining The Intercept, Betsy was executive editor of The Nation, where she led the magazine’s investigative coverage while also editing and writing political commentary.",
      "links": {},
      "type": "person"
    },
    {
      "id": 91381,
      "company": "Center For Constitutional Rights",
      "credential_types": [
        "filmtv",
        "innovation",
        "music"
      ],
      "entity_id": 2254045,
      "name": "Baher Azmy",
      "speaker_types": [],
      "title": "Legal Director",
      "image": {
        "alt_text": "Baher Azmy",
        "credit": "",
        "url": "https://images.sxsw.com/FeanwsRwZmt8mKlnmC9tltruPPo=/19x35:207x223/600x600/images.sxsw.com/48/b02c508d-0281-4e07-a041-477cc6b3d75c/pcid-1640613"
      },
      "speaker_type": "Speaker",
      "details": "As the Legal Director for the Center for Constitutional Rights, Baher Azmy directs all civil and human rights litigation including in areas such as rights of Guantanamo detainees and torture victims, challenging discriminatory policing and abusive prison policies, the suppression of dissent and support for Palestinian human rights. He has been involved in dozens of landmark national cases, including in the Supreme Court and courts of appeal, in these areas, has appeared in hundreds of major print and television outlets, and has published legal scholarship in leading law journals on questions related to access to justice. He was formerly a professor of Constitutional Law at Seton Hall Law School and now regularly teaches Civil Rights Law at NYU and Yale Law Schools. He is a magna cum laude graduate of the University of Pennsylvania and NYU School of Law.  ",
      "links": {},
      "type": "person"
    },
    {
      "id": 79871,
      "company": "The Guardian US",
      "credential_types": [
        "filmtv",
        "innovation",
        "music"
      ],
      "entity_id": 2241167,
      "name": "Mahmoud Khalil",
      "speaker_types": [],
      "title": "Palestinian graduate of Columbia University",
      "image": {
        "alt_text": "Mahmoud Khalil",
        "credit": "",
        "url": "https://images.sxsw.com/gYUI9xjEX4IR_o4PdWs_bjUHfhc=/165x0:807x642/600x600/images.sxsw.com/48/8e9f7a18-dec9-4939-a8e7-9cc43ed9659b/pcid-1629672"
      },
      "speaker_type": "Speaker",
      "details": "Mahmoud Khalil is a Palestinian graduate of the School of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University. He has previously worked in development and international affairs with the United Nations, the British government, as well as other non-profit organizations in the Middle East. Khalil played a key role in Columbia’s student movement opposing Israel’s war on Gaza. In March 2025, the Trump administration unlawfully arrested Khalil, transported him thousands of miles away to an ICE detention center in Louisiana, and attempted to deport him — all in retaliation for his advocacy in support of Palestinian rights. After 104 days in detention, a federal court ordered his release.",
      "links": {},
      "type": "person"
    }
  ],
  "venue": {
    "accessible": false,
    "age_policy": null,
    "floor": null,
    "id": "V2027",
    "indoor_outdoor": null,
    "name": "Salon 1-4",
    "parent_id": "V0403",
    "parent_venue_name": "JW Marriott",
    "venue_entry_info": null,
    "formats": null,
    "location": {
      "address": "110 E 2nd St.",
      "lat_lon": [
        30.2645713,
        -97.743198
      ],
      "city": "Austin",
      "postal_code": "78701",
      "state": "TX",
      "name": "JW Marriott"
    },
    "root": {
      "accessible": null,
      "age_policy": null,
      "floor": null,
      "id": "V0403",
      "indoor_outdoor": null,
      "name": "JW Marriott",
      "parent_id": null,
      "parent_venue_name": null,
      "venue_entry_info": null,
      "formats": null
    },
    "events": "[omitted 5 venue events]"
  },
  "description": "When Mahmoud Khalil was targeted and nearly deported by the Trump administration for his advocacy, his life as a Palestinian student and soon-to-be father were irrevocably upended. Now released from detention – but still facing the threat of deportation – Khalil joins The Guardian for an unflinching conversation on his ordeal, the system that tried to silence him, and the personal and political stakes of resistance. \n\n*Mahmoud Khalil will be participating in this session virtually",
  "experience_level": "Intermediate",
  "accessibility": [
    "American Sign Language",
    "Open captioned",
    "Closed captioned"
  ],
  "accessible_venue": false,
  "add_bcl_url": false,
  "add_slido": false,
  "age_policy": null,
  "american_sign_language": true,
  "apple_url": null,
  "audio_description": false,
  "caption_url": null,
  "closed_captioned": true,
  "cpe_credit": false,
  "has_subtitles": false,
  "hash_tags": [],
  "high_sensory_experience": false,
  "live": false,
  "long_description": "When Mahmoud Khalil was targeted and nearly deported by the Trump administration for his advocacy, his life as a Palestinian student and soon-to-be father were irrevocably upended. Now released from detention – but still facing the threat of deportation – Khalil joins The Guardian for an unflinching conversation on his ordeal, the system that tried to silence him, and the personal and political stakes of resistance. \n\n*Mahmoud Khalil will be participating in this session virtually",
  "meeting_url": null,
  "meeting_url_live": false,
  "mentorly_url": null,
  "mobile_audio_url": null,
  "open_captioned": true,
  "playlist_tag": null,
  "rebroadcast": false,
  "recommended_ids": [],
  "search_conversions": null,
  "short_program": false,
  "slido_url": null,
  "sort": "FEATURED SESSION: THE GUARDIAN IN CONVERSATION WITH MAHMOUD KHALIL ON THE COST OF DISSENT",
  "source": "Official",
  "squad_up_url": null,
  "stream_embed": null,
  "stream_id": null,
  "stream_url": null,
  "strobe_warning": false,
  "subdiscipline": null,
  "summit": null,
  "summit_display_name": null,
  "tags": [
    {
      "id": 1636,
      "name": "Social Impact",
      "created_at": "2017-10-16T21:03:39.709-05:00",
      "updated_at": "2025-01-21T12:09:19.138-06:00",
      "sort": "SOCIAL IMPACT",
      "alpha": "S"
    },
    {
      "id": 998,
      "name": "Activism",
      "created_at": "2016-11-22T12:20:36.035-06:00",
      "updated_at": "2024-01-25T14:52:52.641-06:00",
      "sort": "ACTIVISM",
      "alpha": "A"
    }
  ],
  "talent_attending": null,
  "title_only": false,
  "track_display_name": "Culture",
  "trailer_id": null,
  "trailer_url": null,
  "video_on_demand": null,
  "vimeo_id": null,
  "vod": false,
  "xr_project_type": null,
  "youtube_id": null,
  "related_sales_client": null
}