British journalist Sami Hamdi is set to be released from US custody two weeks after he was detained by immigration enforcement, his family said on Monday.
US 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 US.
The State Department and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) alleged at the time that Hamdi supports terrorism and poses a threat to national security, while his lawyers have argued he was targeted for criticising Israel and its war in Gaza.
Hamdi will be released from ICE detention in the next few days and return to the UK, his representatives say.
Hamdi was visiting the US to speak at events for the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), a Muslim advocacy group, when ICE officers arrested him at the San Francisco International Airport on 26 October.
His detainment came after the US government revoked Hamdi’s visa and criticism from far-right political activist and Trump ally Laura Loomer, who accused him of supporting terrorists.
“We’ve said it before, we’ll say it again: The United States has no obligation to host foreigners who support terrorism and actively undermine the safety of Americans”, the State Department said of Hamdi at the time he was detained.
The BBC has reached out to the US State Department, ICE, and DHS for comment and confirmation of the agreement to release Hamdi.
Lawyers for Hamdi and the California chapter of CAIR said in a Monday statement that they welcome an agreement allowing Hamdi to voluntarily return to the UK instead of facing deportation.
They said he was targeted for speaking against “Israel’s war crimes against Palestinians”.
CAIR said that the immigration charging document filed in Hamdi’s case only accuses him of overstaying his visa, which the government revoked without notifying him first.
The organisation said the charging document does not identify “any criminal conduct or security grounds”, which it said was proof that Hamdi was never a danger to the community or to national security.
“It is this simple: Sami never should have spent a single night in an ICE cell. His only real ‘offense’ was speaking clearly about Israel’s genocidal war crimes against Palestinians,” Hussam Ayloush, the CEO of California’s CAIR chapter, said in the news release.
When reached for comment, the UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) did not confirm details of Hamdi’s detainment or release but told the BBC that it was providing consular assistance to a “British man detained in the USA”. The office said it has also been in touch with the man’s family and with local US authorities.
“This decision brings joy to me, his mother, his wife, our entire family, and all of Sami’s supporters around the world,” Hamdi’s father, Dr Mohamed Elhachmi Hamdi, wrote on X.
“However, it does not erase the bitterness and shock we all feel over what happened to him in the United States — his arrest and the defamation of his reputation and character by US government-affiliated accounts without any legitimate reason whatsoever.”
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