Khawla Nakua
@khawlanakua.bsky.social
Freelance Criminal Justice Reporter|📝 write prison conditions| Bylines: Slate Magazine, Truthout, Mother Jones, and more|FSP_NWU member/organizer| Teach journalism at @journalismtmu.bsky.socal
Tips: khawlanakua.94@gmail.com
https://linktr.ee/KhawlaNakua
Tips: khawlanakua.94@gmail.com
https://linktr.ee/KhawlaNakua
Pinned
Khawla Nakua
@khawlanakua.bsky.social
· Dec 12
So, honored for Chris Blackwell and I story on COVID impacting prison programming we did with @motherjones.com to be selected for the @prisonpolicy.bsky.social round up of the best reporting on incarceration for 2024.
Reposted by Khawla Nakua
Editors have a really hard job, and the good ones can make something unreadable readable, and the great ones can make something unreadable into something good. But they're basically invisible, until someone tries to write without one.
November 17, 2025 at 3:35 PM
Editors have a really hard job, and the good ones can make something unreadable readable, and the great ones can make something unreadable into something good. But they're basically invisible, until someone tries to write without one.
It’s been a long time dream to have an article that I wrote be in a physical magazine. I have finally achieved that dream! @thewalrus.ca
November 12, 2025 at 7:11 PM
It’s been a long time dream to have an article that I wrote be in a physical magazine. I have finally achieved that dream! @thewalrus.ca
Reposted by Khawla Nakua
Sci-fi with something to say: Writer @khawlanakua.bsky.social revisits Battlestar Galactica and finds a haunting reflection of our world today. thewalrus.ca/i-have-watched-b...
November 5, 2025 at 5:00 PM
Sci-fi with something to say: Writer @khawlanakua.bsky.social revisits Battlestar Galactica and finds a haunting reflection of our world today. thewalrus.ca/i-have-watched-b...
My very first essay has been published for @thewalrus.ca. When I was 11 years old I watched the watched the excellent Battlestar Galactica series. This show played a massive influence in my life. For the past two years I have been reflecting a lot about this series. And I wrote an essay about it.
Sci-fi with something to say: Writer @khawlanakua.bsky.social revisits Battlestar Galactica and finds a haunting reflection of our world today. thewalrus.ca/i-have-watched-b...
November 5, 2025 at 5:30 PM
My very first essay has been published for @thewalrus.ca. When I was 11 years old I watched the watched the excellent Battlestar Galactica series. This show played a massive influence in my life. For the past two years I have been reflecting a lot about this series. And I wrote an essay about it.
I am so excited to share that I am going to teach a journalism course at Toronto Metropolitan University this fall semester. I’ll be teaching the Justice and the Courts course. I can’t wait to teach students about journalism!!!
August 18, 2025 at 8:41 PM
I am so excited to share that I am going to teach a journalism course at Toronto Metropolitan University this fall semester. I’ll be teaching the Justice and the Courts course. I can’t wait to teach students about journalism!!!
Reposted by Khawla Nakua
So thrilled to announce that @theflytrapmedia.com has collaborated with @nwu.org on freelancer policies. As a current freelancer, it's really important to me to value and protect our freelance contributors. Proud to join other indie pubs in this!
You can read all about it here:
You can read all about it here:
We've Gone UNION, Baby!
The Flytrap is partnering with the National Writers Union on freelancer policies
theflytrap.beehiiv.com
August 5, 2025 at 5:07 PM
So thrilled to announce that @theflytrapmedia.com has collaborated with @nwu.org on freelancer policies. As a current freelancer, it's really important to me to value and protect our freelance contributors. Proud to join other indie pubs in this!
You can read all about it here:
You can read all about it here:
Reposted by Khawla Nakua
on the one hand we should want people to change their mind so we can stop what's happening now. On the other hand there need to be costs for the ghoulish behavior that got us here, as these people absolutely will do this again given half a chance
In May 2024, "Clinton said students who oppose Israel's policies in Gaza and the West Bank 'don't know very much.'"
"Clinton and a number of European leaders are speaking out now because Israel has already 'carried out their final solution.'"
#Gaza #Palestine #Israel #USA #Genocide
"Clinton and a number of European leaders are speaking out now because Israel has already 'carried out their final solution.'"
#Gaza #Palestine #Israel #USA #Genocide
At Eleventh Hour, Enablers of Israel's Mass Starvation of Gaza Do 'Reputational Damage Control' | Common Dreams
U.S. and European leaders shift rhetoric, call for humanitarian aid. Gaza in famine, children at risk. Will the U.S. continue to support Israel's actions? #EndTheBlockade #FreePalestine
www.commondreams.org
July 28, 2025 at 12:34 PM
on the one hand we should want people to change their mind so we can stop what's happening now. On the other hand there need to be costs for the ghoulish behavior that got us here, as these people absolutely will do this again given half a chance
Reposted by Khawla Nakua
I think some people have trouble seeing fascism as anything other than 1940s Germany.
But I think 'people going to a comic convention needing to have a plan in case the government's goons show up to disappear people' is a pretty good demonstration of what it can look like in 2025.
But I think 'people going to a comic convention needing to have a plan in case the government's goons show up to disappear people' is a pretty good demonstration of what it can look like in 2025.
SDCC ‘25: What to do if ICE crashes the con
If you see ICE or Border Patrol agents while attending San Diego Comic-Con, know your rights and exercise them.
If you see ICE or Border Patrol agents while attending San Diego Comic-Con, know your rights and exercise them.
SDCC ‘25: What to do if ICE crashes the con
If you see ICE or Border Patrol agents while attending San Diego Comic-Con, know your rights and exercise them.
www.comicsbeat.com
July 24, 2025 at 6:44 PM
I think some people have trouble seeing fascism as anything other than 1940s Germany.
But I think 'people going to a comic convention needing to have a plan in case the government's goons show up to disappear people' is a pretty good demonstration of what it can look like in 2025.
But I think 'people going to a comic convention needing to have a plan in case the government's goons show up to disappear people' is a pretty good demonstration of what it can look like in 2025.
Reposted by Khawla Nakua
Predictable, but no less shocking or reprehensible: Trump just signed an executive order urging states to forcibly institutionalize homeless people, defund Housing First, criminalize encampments, and cut aid to cities that don't comply.
Ending Crime and Disorder on America's Streets
By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, it is hereby ordered: Section 1. Purpose and
www.whitehouse.gov
July 24, 2025 at 9:14 PM
Predictable, but no less shocking or reprehensible: Trump just signed an executive order urging states to forcibly institutionalize homeless people, defund Housing First, criminalize encampments, and cut aid to cities that don't comply.
Reposted by Khawla Nakua
i wish i had the power or the money to like hire thousands of out of work journalists and put them (us?) to work doing what we do best ie chipping and scraping at the lies people in power tell. horse race commenters not welcome
July 18, 2025 at 2:34 PM
i wish i had the power or the money to like hire thousands of out of work journalists and put them (us?) to work doing what we do best ie chipping and scraping at the lies people in power tell. horse race commenters not welcome
Reposted by Khawla Nakua
They ripped him apart from his pregnant wife in her last trimester. They stole from him the birth of his baby boy Dean, his graduation ceremony, his first Father's Day. They detained him illegally for 104 days.
But today, Mahmoud Khalil is FINALLY FREE. 🤍✊🏼
But today, Mahmoud Khalil is FINALLY FREE. 🤍✊🏼
June 20, 2025 at 11:53 PM
They ripped him apart from his pregnant wife in her last trimester. They stole from him the birth of his baby boy Dean, his graduation ceremony, his first Father's Day. They detained him illegally for 104 days.
But today, Mahmoud Khalil is FINALLY FREE. 🤍✊🏼
But today, Mahmoud Khalil is FINALLY FREE. 🤍✊🏼
Reposted by Khawla Nakua
“After more than three months we can finally breathe a sigh of relief and know that Mahmoud is on his way home to me and Deen, who never should have been separated from his father,” says Dr. Noor Abdalla, Mahmoud Khalil’s wife, in reaction to a judge granting his request for bail
June 20, 2025 at 6:41 PM
“After more than three months we can finally breathe a sigh of relief and know that Mahmoud is on his way home to me and Deen, who never should have been separated from his father,” says Dr. Noor Abdalla, Mahmoud Khalil’s wife, in reaction to a judge granting his request for bail
I am not a cryer. I rarly cry. But the Ghorman massacre episode in Andor brought me to tears, it was to close to home. And I was waiting for a critic to write a comparison piece to our moment. So glad that @roxana-hadadi.bsky.social wrote this excellent piece www.vulture.com/article/ando...
Andor Dared to Say ‘Genocide’
The best episodes of the series are a direct rebuttal to anyone who still claims Star Wars isn’t political.
www.vulture.com
May 8, 2025 at 9:56 PM
I am not a cryer. I rarly cry. But the Ghorman massacre episode in Andor brought me to tears, it was to close to home. And I was waiting for a critic to write a comparison piece to our moment. So glad that @roxana-hadadi.bsky.social wrote this excellent piece www.vulture.com/article/ando...
Reposted by Khawla Nakua
The carceral system is inundated with crises – that's why investigative journalism is more important than ever
On #WorldPressFreedomDay, here are 10 stories from 2024 that newsrooms can emulate to shine a light inside the black box of mass incarceration🧵
www.prisonpolicy.org/blog/2024/12...
On #WorldPressFreedomDay, here are 10 stories from 2024 that newsrooms can emulate to shine a light inside the black box of mass incarceration🧵
www.prisonpolicy.org/blog/2024/12...
The 2024 reporting on incarceration that newsrooms should emulate in 2025
We highlight some of the year's best reporting on incarceration, and offer tips for journalists interested in pursuing similar stories in their states.
www.prisonpolicy.org
May 3, 2025 at 7:15 PM
The carceral system is inundated with crises – that's why investigative journalism is more important than ever
On #WorldPressFreedomDay, here are 10 stories from 2024 that newsrooms can emulate to shine a light inside the black box of mass incarceration🧵
www.prisonpolicy.org/blog/2024/12...
On #WorldPressFreedomDay, here are 10 stories from 2024 that newsrooms can emulate to shine a light inside the black box of mass incarceration🧵
www.prisonpolicy.org/blog/2024/12...
Reposted by Khawla Nakua
The Miami Herald is doing remarkable public service journalism on deported Venezuelans and the crimes being committed against them. Almost like news institutions that are located in and around the communities they serve end up being accountable for serving those communities
April 23, 2025 at 12:41 AM
The Miami Herald is doing remarkable public service journalism on deported Venezuelans and the crimes being committed against them. Almost like news institutions that are located in and around the communities they serve end up being accountable for serving those communities
Reposted by Khawla Nakua
Listen. Media is in the toilet. As freelance media workers, sharing our rates is a simple act of solidarity — as well as a step toward a better media industry. Enter your rates at bit.ly/share-rates #FreelanceSolidarityChallenge
Rate Sharing - Freelance Solidarity Project
Our goal is to create a comprehensive database of rates for digital media freelancers across the industry.
bit.ly
April 15, 2025 at 5:29 PM
Listen. Media is in the toilet. As freelance media workers, sharing our rates is a simple act of solidarity — as well as a step toward a better media industry. Enter your rates at bit.ly/share-rates #FreelanceSolidarityChallenge
Reposted by Khawla Nakua
Is now a good time to say that people convicted of crimes deserve rights, due process, and not to be deported, let alone to a third country slave prison
On X, VP Vance falsely claims that Mr. Abrego was a "convicted MS-13 gang member."
In fact, Mr. Abrego has no criminal record at all. He was arrested (but not charged) while looking for day labor outside a Home Depot in 2019. Local cops then said a "confidential informant" said he was in MS-13.
In fact, Mr. Abrego has no criminal record at all. He was arrested (but not charged) while looking for day labor outside a Home Depot in 2019. Local cops then said a "confidential informant" said he was in MS-13.
April 1, 2025 at 12:25 PM
Is now a good time to say that people convicted of crimes deserve rights, due process, and not to be deported, let alone to a third country slave prison
Reposted by Khawla Nakua
The Trump admin continues to send immigrant students to remote detention centers in Louisiana. So I spent a day in court inside the ICE center holding Mahmoud Khalil.
It has faced consistent allegations of medical neglect & due process issues.
Here’s what I saw:
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
It has faced consistent allegations of medical neglect & due process issues.
Here’s what I saw:
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
‘Detention Alley’: inside the Ice centres in the US south where foreign students and undocumented migrants languish
Foreign nationals caught up in Trump’s immigration dragnet are transported sometimes thousands of miles away to an isolated network of lockups and courts
www.theguardian.com
March 29, 2025 at 1:59 PM
The Trump admin continues to send immigrant students to remote detention centers in Louisiana. So I spent a day in court inside the ICE center holding Mahmoud Khalil.
It has faced consistent allegations of medical neglect & due process issues.
Here’s what I saw:
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
It has faced consistent allegations of medical neglect & due process issues.
Here’s what I saw:
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
I turned 30, last September and I was looking forward to turning 30 all year. And none of my friends who older or younger than me, understood it. They all have insecurities on getting older and I am in the best place in my life at 30. PS, I hated my 20s.
Kinda annoyed with how women I know who are younger than me talk about my age. Please stop projecting your ageist insecurities onto me. I am happy to be deep in my mid-thirties. I have fought for and earned every year. I am happy to be alive.
April 1, 2025 at 12:55 PM
I turned 30, last September and I was looking forward to turning 30 all year. And none of my friends who older or younger than me, understood it. They all have insecurities on getting older and I am in the best place in my life at 30. PS, I hated my 20s.
Reposted by Khawla Nakua
Think it’s important to highlight how everyday violence of the U.S. criminal legal system is making what ICE is doing possible: this man was convicted of a crime at *16*; he was *pardoned*; when ICE came decades later they claimed the conviction made him a felon w/ no recourse against deportation
Rodney Taylor is a beloved Georgia barber who came to the United States from Liberia with his mother when he was only two years old. He applied for citizenship but was denied. But this year, ICE arrested him, locked him up, and has scheduled him to be deported to a faraway country he's never known.
Recently engaged, beloved barber arrested by ICE | How his immigration story is questioning the system
Rodney Taylor, a Georgia barber, has been pursuing permanent residency for years. Now, he faces deportation to Liberia despite being in the U.S. since childhood.
www.11alive.com
March 23, 2025 at 1:15 PM
Think it’s important to highlight how everyday violence of the U.S. criminal legal system is making what ICE is doing possible: this man was convicted of a crime at *16*; he was *pardoned*; when ICE came decades later they claimed the conviction made him a felon w/ no recourse against deportation
Reposted by Khawla Nakua
This is going to be remembered for all time as Columbia’s response to having a student protestor kidnapped and held prisoner by a budding authoritarian regime. It is unspeakable cowardice.
March 21, 2025 at 8:34 PM
This is going to be remembered for all time as Columbia’s response to having a student protestor kidnapped and held prisoner by a budding authoritarian regime. It is unspeakable cowardice.
Reposted by Khawla Nakua
Lots of new details in Mahmoud Khalil's amended complaint against the Trump admin. His lawyers are asking for more than just his release; they want the judge to order the Trump admin to stop its plan to arrest/deport protesters.
Read the whole thing here: www.courtlistener.com/docket/69719...
Read the whole thing here: www.courtlistener.com/docket/69719...
Amended Complaint – #38 in Mahmoud Khalil v. William P. Joyce (S.D.N.Y., 1:25-cv-01935) – CourtListener.com
FIRST AMENDED COMPLAINT against Pamela Bondi, William P. Joyce, Kristi Noem, Shurat HaDin - Israel Law Center, Caleb Vitello, Donald J. Trump, Marco Rubio.Document filed by Mahmoud Khalil..(Belsher, A...
www.courtlistener.com
March 15, 2025 at 12:14 AM
Lots of new details in Mahmoud Khalil's amended complaint against the Trump admin. His lawyers are asking for more than just his release; they want the judge to order the Trump admin to stop its plan to arrest/deport protesters.
Read the whole thing here: www.courtlistener.com/docket/69719...
Read the whole thing here: www.courtlistener.com/docket/69719...