Arraignment Hearing For Pro-Palestine Harvard Graduate Students Postponed For The Third Time

BOSTON — One year later, the assault case involving Harvard graduate students Elom Tettey-Tamaklo and Ibrahim I. Bharmal remains stuck in legal no man’s land after their arraignment hearing was postponed on Tuesday for the third time.

Tettey-Tamaklo and Bharmal are facing criminal charges for assault and battery stemming from their involvement in a confrontation with an Israeli student at a pro-Palestine “die-in” protest at the Harvard Business School on Oct. 18, 2023.

Tettey-Tamaklo and Bharmal were set to appear at the Brighton District Court on Tuesday to enter their pleas, but both sides of the case agreed to postpone the arraignment hearing to Nov. 15.

The repeated delays suggest that Harvard and the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office — which is responsible for leading the prosecution — remain at odds over whether the Harvard University Police Department has provided enough information to the district attorney.

When the arraignment hearing was postponed in September, Ursula Knight – a prosecutor from the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office — told The Crimson that she was waiting on additional information from the HUPD.

Knight did not respond to a request for comment on Tuesday about whether she was still awaiting additional materials from the HUPD. University spokesperson Jason A. Newton, however, wrote in a statement that “Harvard has continued to cooperate in the investigation.”

Assistant District Attorney Margaret Hegarty declined to comment on the delay when approached by The Crimson at the Brighton District Courthouse Tuesday morning, saying only that the case “isn’t happening today” before walking away.

Tettey-Tamaklo and Bharmal did not respond to a request for comment about the delay.

The delay is highly irregular for a criminal case as arraignment hearings typically happen within 48 hours of charges being filed. Charges were first brought against Tettey-Tamaklo and Bharmal in May.

But some politicians, including House Committee on Education and the Workforce Chair Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.), have alleged that Harvard has been uncooperative in turning over materials to the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office.

In September, Foxx and Rep. Elise M. Stefanik ’06 (R-N.Y.) slammed the University for “willfully obstructing” the investigation in a letter sent to Harvard President Alan M. Garber ’76.

“In all our years of public service, we have never encountered a situation in which a law enforcement agency has affirmatively refused to cooperate with a prosecutor’s investigation — much less done so in such an open and brazen manner,” Foxx and Stefanik wrote.

In a video that was widely on social media, Tettey-Tamaklo and Bharmal were seen escorting the counterprotester — a first-year Israeli HBS student — away from the demonstration and using keffiyehs and safety vests to obstruct the student’s camera.

Shortly after the incident in November, Harvard indefinitely removed Tettey-Tamaklo from his role as a freshman proctor in Thayer Hall, despite a petition that called for his reinstatement receiving more than 10,000 signatures.

Months later, Tettey-Tamaklo has retained strong support from some Harvard students and alumni. Members of Harvard Out of Occupied Palestine, the group responsible for staging the 20-day encampment of Harvard Yard, attended the September arraignment hearing in support of Tettey-Tamaklo.

Tettey-Tamaklo and Bharmal are scheduled to next appear in court on Nov. 15.

—Staff writer Dhruv T. Patel can be reached at dhruv.patel@thecrimson.com. Follow him on X @dhruvtkpatel.

—Staff writer Cam N. Srivastava can be reached at cam.srivastava@thecrimson.com. Follow him on X @camsrivastava.