Soumaya, the wife of Sami Hamdi, has spoken of concerns after her husband was told his visa was revoked over his “advocacy for Palestine”
Picture:
Alamy
The wife of a British political journalist held by ICE in the US over his “advocacy for Palestine” has raised concerns over the detention of football fans travelling to the upcoming World Cup.
Sami Hamdi, a Muslim who lives in London, was detained by Ice officers at San Francisco International Airport last month after he travelled to the US for a speaking tour.
Mr Hamdi told LBC his visa was revoked because of his “advocacy for Palestine,” but that two federal judges found there were “serious breaches” of freedom of speech and exonerated him.
Following his return, his wife Soumaya highlighted that his two-week detention by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raised concerns ahead of the football event, which is due to take place next year.
“I would say to British citizens who value their freedom of speech to be very careful, because you’ve got the World Cup in the United States coming up next year,” she said.
Read more: More chaos at BBC as Newsnight also accused of ‘doctoring’ Trump January 6 speech footage
Picture:
PA
“If this could happen to Sami on a valid visa, a British citizen, a registered journalist, then it could very well happen again,” she told Sky News.
Describing his detention as “agony” and compared it to something out of the “movies”, Mr Hamdi made his return to the UK on Thursday.
Appearing on LBC’s Tonight with Andrew Marr, the 34-year-old said he was taken away from the airport and into a black car which he described as being “like the stuff you see in the movies.”
He was then transported to a hall with around 90 other detainees, where he recalled being in agonising stomach pains before he received help.
Mr Hamdi was eventually freed without any charge and landed back at Heathrow Airport on Thursday.
“The assistance that we received from the British government… was really very disappointing,” she added.
“I think this is really very concerning that the government is not taking more serious action with regards to our closest ally.”
Picture:
Getty
Speaking after his ordeal, he also issued a warning to England football supporters travelling to the US for next year’s World Cup.
He told Andrew: “I was going to America, lecturing and talking about what was happening in Palestine and in the Middle east quite generally.
“Two weeks prior to my arrest there was a group of far right individuals – Dinesh d’Souza, Ted Cruz, and a lady called Laura Loomer who openly came out and said ‘there is somebody from the UK who is lecturing in the US talking against the Israelis, we need to get his visa revoked.’
“On the Wednesday, Laura Loomer tweeted that she’d gone to Congress and met with the State Department.
“Then I gave a talk in San Francisco on Friday. I was supposed to fly on the Sunday to Florida and then New York and then home.
“When I got to San Francisco airport, I went through security, looked up to see where the gate is. Somebody walks up to me and says to me, excuse me, are you Sami Hamdi?
“I said, yes. He said: ‘Homeland security, your visa was revoked two days ago, so now you’re here illegally.’
“I said ‘no one told me my visa was under review. I have a ten year business visa. It’s until 2028, it doesn’t expire.’
“They said ‘here is the memo from the State Department.’ It didn’t list any accusation, it didn’t say why the visa was revoked.
Picture:
PA
“I told them ‘OK, I’ll just book the ticket and go home to London.’ They said ‘that’s not how this works.’
“Then they told me to get into a black car, like the stuff you see in the movies.
“I told them I need to inform somebody. They said no. Then I told them I’m not getting in the car unless I inform somebody.
“I called the Civil Liberties Organisation. Then when I said, let me call my family, a lady behind me grabs me, pushes me against the car, cups my hands from behind, throws me in the car.
“For the next six hours I’m just being taken to a random location without any access to a lawyer behind a van. They swap me in a vehicle and then afterwards, a process of two weeks would take place.”
Mr Hamdi said he was told by two federal judges who said they were concerned about the “infringement of freedom of speech and argued the federal court had no jurisdiction to discuss an “alien’s right to freedom of speech.”
He added: “They were contacted and the government essentially said, is there any way we can just clear this up, that we can just make this easy?
“We’re willing to pull some strings and let him go home. And I agreed to the deal.”
Picture:
Getty
When asked about where he was kept, Mr Hamdi said: “They took us to these detention facilities. More than 90 people in this sort of small hall.
“Ice were quite aggressive to be honest. I was sick within one day due to the food, and then had stomach problems for the next six, seven days.
“I remember on the second day I was in real agony, my whole left side, to the point where I genuinely thought I had burst the kidney or that burst the spleen.
“When I told them that I need to see a medical doctor, they shrugged their shoulders and said, we’ve informed medical, they’ll come when they come.
“One hour passed, two hours pass, and I’m in agony, I can barely walk. In the end, this guard says to me quietly ‘if you want them to come, drop now on the floor, otherwise they’re probably not coming.’
“So then I called my wife, I said go and tell them I need a doctor badly. Like, call the media, because they’re not. And the doctors came running after the media caused an uproar and then afterwards.”
He added that he was “absolutely certain” he did “not cross the line” between “criticising the State of Israel and being or appearing to be supportive of Hamas”
After arriving back in London, Hamdi told reporters he was looking forward to returning to play seven-a-side football at the weekend.
Speaking to Andrew, he added: “London is my home. Wembley is my turf, it was lovely to come home.
“But I think more than that [there was an] overwhelming support from ordinary Americans, from ordinary Brits who came out in force.
“I want to make this particular point that I think people understood this wasn’t an attack on me specifically, it was an attack on the freedoms of ordinary Americans and ordinary Brits.”
Speaking to Sky News, he said: “I would say to British citizens who value their freedom of speech to be very careful, because you got the World Cup in the United States coming up next year.
“If this could happen to Sami on a valid visa, a British citizen, a registered journalist, then it could very well happen again.”
