‘From the movies’: Sami Hamdi details ‘aggressive’ ICE detention

Bundled into conveyance with blacked-out windows, British writer recounts detainment successful US owed to Palestinian support.

British writer Sami Hamdi, who says helium was held illegally for much than 2 weeks by United States migration authorities for his pro-Palestinian commentary, has described his detention as “like thing from the movies”.

In an interrogation with Al Jazeera, Hamdi accused the US Department of Homeland Security’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) of utilizing “loopholes” to maltreatment people, and helium directed attraction towards the plight of Palestinian prisoners held successful Israeli detention.

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The 35-year-old British national was stopped astatine San Francisco International Airport successful California connected October 26 midway done a speaking circuit discussing Israel’s warfare connected Gaza.

Hamdi said Laura Loomer and different right-wing activists and allies of President Donald Trump created the grounds for his apprehension by posting his lectures and calling for his visa to beryllium revoked.

Homeland Security Department authorities stopped Hamdi astatine the airdrome and told him his visa had been revoked. However, they refused to let him to instantly permission the US by flying to London alternatively of his planned home flight.

“And past 4 different ICE agents appeared retired of nowhere,” helium told Al Jazeera. “They surrounded me, and past they escorted maine extracurricular of the airdrome wherever a achromatic car with tinted windows was waiting for me. They told me, ‘Get successful the car.’”

He was fixed a fewer moments to usage his telephone aft insisting connected his ineligible rights arsenic a United Kingdom citizen, which helium utilized to interaction the Council connected American-Islamic Relations. The civilian rights radical agreed to assistance him get ineligible practice and pass his household of his detention.

After 3 car rides successful handcuffs, helium arrived astatine an ICE detention installation and was checked successful with a fig of different radical of assorted ethnicities.

He aboriginal discovered done a lawyer that helium was being held successful Golden State Annex successful McFarland, California, successful what helium labelled “a precise politically motivated manoeuvre”.

Hamdi said helium and 20 different men were held successful a tiny compartment with nary facilities. Inmates repeatedly had their cases delayed done bureaucracy, helium said.

One Latino antheral named Antonio whose woman and children are US citizens had been successful detention for 10 months without charge, Hamdi said.

“This is the tragedy. You person these radical who are illegally detained, who shouldn’t beryllium determination longer than six months, according to each habeas corpus rules, but who enactment determination longer due to the fact that of bureaucratic loopholes,” said the journalist, who returned to London connected Thursday.

ICE agents were “particularly aggressive” and astir displayed “little sympathy for the radical they were dealing with”, Hamdi said. They appeared to consciousness that they could enactment with “impunity”, helium continued.

The writer noted that portion his lawsuit has received overmuch attention, helium believes it is important to retrieve that thousands of Palestinians stay incarcerated successful Israeli subject prisons successful appalling conditions.

“It’s important to enactment that arbitrary detention for the involvement of look of state of code isn’t thing that’s nether menace conscionable successful America oregon successful the UK.”