SAN FRANCISCO – British journalist and political commentator Sami Hamdi is returning to the United Kingdom after spending half a month in Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody, advocates said.
Hamdi had been in the United States on a speaking tour when he was detained at San Francisco International Airport on Oct. 26.
“I am profoundly grateful to my family, my legal team and every individual in the global community who prayed, protested and refused to be silent,” Hamdi said in a statement Wednesday evening. “Let the record show: I broke no law and posed no threat. My only ‘offense’ was speaking the unvarnished truth about the genocide in Gaza.”
“I am departing now, voluntarily, to reunite with my loved ones, not because the U.S. government ever established a credible case against me,” Hamdi said. “This detention was a stark demonstration that a Muslim journalist can be held captive because extremists, amplified on social media, seek to weaponize state policy against inconvenient speech. This is not merely an injustice against me, but a searing indictment of any nation that claims to uphold free speech, a free press and the right to due process.”
At the time of his detainment, a federal spokesperson accused Hamdi without evidence of “support(ing) terrorism and undermin(ing) American national security.” The U.S. Department of Homeland Security also revoked his visitor visa.
Hamdi’s release from ICE custody follows his agreement Monday to voluntarily leave the United States, according to the California chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, or CAIR-CA, one of the organizations representing him.
He was also represented in legal proceedings by attorney Hassan M. Ahmad of the HMA Law Firm and the Muslim Legal Fund.
Under the agreement, he will not be considered a danger to the community or to national security.
No criminal charges were filed against Hamdi and the government never alleged that he posed a security threat or “brought anything more than a baseless overstay claim against him,” CAIR-CA said in a news release about Hamdi’s return to the United Kingdom.
“Let’s be absolutely clear: if the government had any evidence to back up the smears it has been tweeting about Sami, he would not be on a flight home right now,” CAIR-CA CEO Hussam Ayloush said. “They locked a journalist in an ICE cell and tried to frighten the public with baseless claims, and, in the end, all they proved was their own abuse of power. That should alarm anyone who cares about the rule of law.”
Hamdi endured harsh conditions while in custody, according to CAIR-CA. The organization claimed he was crowded with dozens of other detainees in a single room, forced to wait more than eight hours for medical attention while in “excruciating pain,” and transported multiple times, without notice, in full shackles.
Hamdi’s case is part of a pattern of authorities targeting journalists and advocates who speak out for Palestinian human rights and criticize Israeli government policies, CAIR-CA said, adding that it will continue to seek transparency and accountability regarding the government’s treatment of Hamdi and others targeted for their speech.
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