LONDON, 16 Nov. - (ANA) - British journalist Sami Hamdi arrived in London on Thursday after spending more than two weeks in US immigration detention. His family, who said they felt "great relief", met him at Heathrow before he addressed the press, ending a detention they describe as unnecessary, punitive and politically motivated.

 

Hamdi was seized by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) at San Francisco International Airport on 26 October while travelling for a speaking tour. The arrest came shortly after he addressed Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) California's annual gala, where he contrasted being "America First" with being "Israel First" and condemned Israel’s genocide in Gaza.

 

Supporters immediately questioned the timing, and his family later said he had been “abducted and detained by ICE” despite holding a valid visa and committing no crime.

 

US authorities insisted he was detained for overstaying his visa, but Hamdi's legal team maintain his documents were in order and argues he was targeted for his criticism of Israel.

 

The US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) revoked his visa on "national security" grounds, claiming that "those who support terrorism and undermine American national security will not be allowed to work or visit this country".

 

No criminal charges were filed, and the government never alleged Hamdi posed any actual security threat. His lawyers say "anti-Muslim and pro-Israel extremists" pressured officials to act against him.

 

Hamdi eventually agreed to leave the United States voluntarily, a resolution his family said came "with no order of deportation and no allegations".

 

They said he had been held in "terrible conditions", sharing a room with between 80 and 90 people and waiting hours for medical care.

 

"All this because Sami, a journalist, political commentator and human rights defender, spoke out against Israel’s genocide of Palestinians in Gaza," they said. "Otherwise, they would not have offered voluntary return."

 

The California chapter of CAIR, which challenged his detention in federal court, also stated that Hamdi was "punished for criticising Israel, not for any alleged wrongdoing".

 

Speaking publicly for the first time since returning to the UK, Hamdi said it was "wonderful to be back after being exonerated".

 

He described his detention as "an attack on the freedoms of ordinary Americans and citizens worldwide" and "an attack on their freedom to speak the truth in the face of hatred".

 

Hamdi said he does not believe he was targeted merely for what he was saying, but because "Americans were listening", pointing to a growing public shift in how Israel’s war is viewed.

 

"I am not the story," he told reporters, insisting the focus should remain on "one of the most heinous genocides of our time" in Gaza.

 

"This is about apartheid and occupation and how to stop the final apartheid outpost that exists in our modern world. The story is about the world waking up to the truth," he said.

 

At the same time, Hamdi acknowledged that his detention by US authorities may have had the effect of boosting his advocacy for Gaza.

 

"In attacking me, they have amplified my voice in a way that I would never have been able to myself," Hamdi told The New Arab.

 

"I can only thank god, and those who stood with me, and the public who had the inclination to listen with an open mind, as opposed to those extremists who were trying to paint a different narrative." 

 

Hamdi's detention and release come amid a nationwide crackdown on pro-Palestine activism, revoking hundreds of visas in claims to curb antisemitism, leaving thousands worried over their right to freedom of speech.   - (ANA) -

 

AB/ANA/16 November 2025 - - -