Yaakub Ira

Since October 2023, photojournalist and storyteller Yaakub Ira has been documenting the nationwide pro-Palestinian movement. Alongside his advocacy for the people of Palestine, Yaakub also uses his camera and social media platform to call attention to the plight of prisoners including Dr. Aafia Siddiqui (Project TAHA client), HLF5 and Leqaa Kordia. Like millions of others, Yaakub believes the trials of these individuals were unfair, their lengthy prison sentences unjust and the conditions of their imprisonment inhumane.

On October 7, 2025, Yaakub — a DACA recipient who has lived here since the age of fourteen and has no criminal history — was arrested by ICE agents at gunpoint. The government’s notice indicating its intent to terminate Yaakub’s DACA status read:

“You have been connected to multiple social media accounts, including YouTube @Pagpatuloy, X accounts @yaakub_ira and @ Yaakubira, and Instagram @yaakub_ira, which include posts supporting the Holy Land Foundation 5 (HLF5), who were convicted of providing material aid and support to a designated terrorist organization, Hamas, and Aafia Siddiqui, who is currently serving an 86-year prison sentence for attempted murder and was named as a courier and financier of al-Qaida. It also appears that on Instagram you sought to raise funds for the Ft. Dix 5, who plotted an attack on Fort Dix, New Jersey. Your support for organizations and individuals who are known to engage in acts of terrorism presents public safety, national security concerns, and is a significant negative discretionary factor under the totality of the circumstances analysis.”

Yaakub has broken no law. He makes no apology for expressing his deeply felt opposition to the genocide and to the US government’s inhumane and illegal treatment of those it accuses of terrorism, including at black site torture centers like Guantanamo Bay. Whether one agrees with it or not, the First Amendment protects the speech mentioned by DHS in its statements. Additionally, Yaakub is being punished for refusing an FBI request that he become a confidential informant and spy on the pro-Palestinian movement. He was approached with such an offer in late 2023 and declined.