British journalist Sami Hamdi, who was detained by US immigration officials for more than two weeks, will return to the UK on Thursday, Hamdi and his legal team announced in a statement.
The London-based journalist and commentator was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) at San Francisco International Airport on October 26, a day after speaking at the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) annual gala in California.
Authorities said Mr. Hamdi was being detained for overstaying his U.S. visa. But Hamdi and his lawyers argued that he was in the United States on a valid visa and was detained for speaking out about Israel’s war in Gaza.
Hamdi said in a statement Thursday that he was leaving the United States “voluntarily.”
“I am deeply grateful to my family, my legal team, and everyone in the international community for praying, protesting, and refusing to remain silent. Let me go on record: I have not broken any laws, and I have not made any threats. My only ‘crime’ was to tell the unvarnished truth about the genocide in Gaza,” Hamdi said.
Hamdi is known for his analysis of the situation in the Middle East and for his appearances on British television. He recently spoke about the U.S.-brokered ceasefire agreement in Gaza and international plans for the enclave’s postwar governance.
The statement said Hamdi endured “harsh” conditions in ICE custody, where he was held in a small room with dozens of other men and forced to wait more than eight hours for medical treatment. Hamdi also said he was shackled even though he had not been charged with a crime, the statement said.
CNN has reached out to ICE and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) for comment.
DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin told CNN in a statement Monday that ICE is “gladly arranging for[Hamdi’s]deportation,” calling him an “illegal alien and terrorist sympathizer.”
“Under President Trump, those who support terrorism and undermine the national security of the United States will not be allowed to work or visit this country,” the statement said.
“No family should ever go through what we are going through,” Hamdi’s family said in a statement Thursday.
“For the past 18 days,[Hamdi]has been held in a room with 80 to 90 other people and living in appalling conditions, all because Sami, a journalist, political commentator and human rights defender, spoke out against Israel’s massacre of Palestinians in Gaza,” the statement said.
Hamdi said: “This detention clearly shows that Islamic journalists can be detained as extremists amplified on social media seek to weaponize state policy against undesirable speech.”
Hamdi is one of the latest pro-Palestinian foreigners to have his visa revoked by the Trump administration. Earlier this year, Cornell University graduate student Momodu Tarr had his visa revoked and was subject to deportation. The dual British-Gambian citizen accused the Trump administration of targeting him for participating in pro-Palestinian protests amid the Israel-Hamas war. In late March, Tarr announced he was leaving the United States voluntarily.
CAIR California CEO Hassam Ailush said in a statement Thursday that Hamdi’s arrest “should ring an alarm for anyone who cares about the rule of law.”
“They locked journalists in ICE cells and tried to scare the public with baseless claims, but in the end, all they proved was their own abuse of power.”
