A US judge has ordered the release from custody of Badar Khan Suri, an Indian researcher at a top American university who is facing possible deportation for alleged Hamas ties, AFP reports.

He was arrested by federal agents two months ago at his home in Virginia and has been held in Texas.

District Judge Patricia Giles ordered Suri’s immediate release yesterday and that he be allowed to return from Texas to his wife and three children in Virginia on his personal recognisance.

“Hearing the judge’s words brought tears to my eyes,” Suri’s wife, Mapheze Saleh, said in a statement released by the Centre for Constitutional Rights (CCR), which is among the groups representing her husband in court.

Giles, in ordering Suri’s release, said his detention violated his First Amendment rights to free speech.