Sami Hamdi to be freed from US immigration detention
British journalist Sami Hamdi should be released two weeks after being arrested by immigration authorities, his family announced on Monday.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) arrested Hamdi, a media commentator and outspoken critic of Israel, last month while he was on a speaking tour in the United States.
The State Department and Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said at the time that Hamdi supported terrorism and posed a threat to national security, while his lawyers claimed he was targeted for criticizing Israel and its war in Gaza.
Hamdi will be released from ICE custody in the coming days and will return to the United Kingdom, his representatives said.
Hamdi was visiting the United States to speak at events organized by the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), a Muslim advocacy group, when ICE agents arrested him at San Francisco International Airport on October 26.
His arrest came after the US government revoked Hamdi’s visa and after criticism from far-right political activist and Trump ally Laura Loomer, who accused him of supporting terrorists.
“We have said it before, we will say it again: The United States has no obligation to harbor foreign nationals who support terrorism and actively undermine the security of Americans,” the State Department said of Hamdi at the time of his arrest.
The BBC has contacted the US State Department, ICE and DHS for comment and to confirm the agreement to release Hamdi.
Lawyers for Hamdi and the California chapter of CAIR said in a statement Monday that they welcomed an agreement allowing Hamdi to voluntarily return to the United Kingdom instead of being deported.
They said he was targeted for speaking out about “Israel’s war crimes against the Palestinians.”
CAIR said the immigration charging document filed in Hamdi’s case only accuses him of overstaying his visa, which the government revoked without first notifying him.
The organization said the charging document did not identify “any criminal conduct or security motive,” which it said was proof that Hamdi never posed a danger to the community or national security.
“It’s as simple as this: Sami should never have spent a single night in an ICE cell. His only real ‘offense’ was speaking out about the genocidal war crimes committed by Israel against the Palestinians,” Hussam Ayloush, CEO of CAIR’s California chapter, said in the press release.
Contacted for comment, the UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) would not confirm details of Hamdi’s detention or release, but told the BBC it was providing consular assistance to a “British person detained in the US”. The office said it was also in contact with the man’s family and local U.S. authorities.
“This decision brings joy to me, to his mother, to his wife, to our entire family and to all of Sami’s supporters around the world,” Hamdi’s father, Dr. Mohamed Elhachmi Hamdi, wrote on X.
“However, this does not erase the bitterness and shock we all feel at what happened to him in the United States – his arrest and the defamation of his reputation and character by accounts affiliated with the US government for no legitimate reason.”
