SOAS College, of which Hamdi is an alumnus, urge ‘US authorities to make sure full transparency and due course of’ in his case.
Printed On 6 Nov 2025
The London college the place British political commentator and journalist Sami Hamdi accomplished his research has known as for “full transparency and due course of” relating to his detention in america.
In an announcement printed on Wednesday, SOAS College of London stated it was “deeply involved” by reviews of Hamdi’s detention, including that “there isn’t any indication that Mr Hamdi has violated any legal guidelines”.
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“We urge the US authorities to make sure full transparency and due course of in Mr Hamdi’s case, and to uphold his elementary proper to freedom of expression and motion.”
Hamdi, 35, was stopped at San Francisco international airport in California on October 26 and detained by brokers from the Division of Homeland Safety’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) company.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) condemned Hamdi’s detention as “a blatant affront to free speech”, attributing his arrest to his criticism of Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza, which has killed a minimum of 68,875 Palestinians and wounded 170,679 since October 2023.
Hamdi, who was finishing a talking tour within the US discussing Israel’s battle on Gaza, had addressed a CAIR gala in Sacramento, California, the earlier night and was resulting from converse at one other CAIR occasion in Florida.
He was unaware on the time that his visa had been revoked by US authorities two days earlier than his detention.
Hamdi’s detention has led to a authorized battle, along with his legal professionals submitting emergency petitions in opposition to his detention, and his spouse Soumaya and civil society teams demanding that the UK authorities take motion.
Soumaya informed Al Jazeera that the US authorities has nonetheless not supplied any proof “as to why they really feel the necessity to revoke his visa. And due to this fact they’re treating him as an overstayer”.
She stated the incident raises an vital query: “Has america change into a rustic now the place a British citizen travelling on a sound visa may be detained at will? As a result of that’s actually scary.”
Soumaya stated she believed her husband had been focused by the US authorities as a result of “he’s change into extraordinarily efficient at galvanising help for Palestinian rights. Sami has been in a position to carry folks collectively throughout the political spectrum, not simply inside Muslim communities.”
She additionally stated her husband’s arrest must be of concern to “all people who values the correct to freedom of speech, all people who values the correct to obtain details from journalists and for journalists to have the ability to report on information with out being persecuted”.
“In the event that they [US authorities] are in a position then to deal with Sami on this means, it’s solely a matter of time earlier than they begin to deal with US residents like that too.”
“The US authorities should launch Sami instantly. They’ve made an enormous mistake, and they should launch him instantly. And Congress should examine these ICE detentions as a result of they’re setting a harmful precedent for the longer term skill of US residents having the ability to train their proper to the First Modification correctly. And that’s dangerous information for everyone,” she stated.
