British commentator considers taking legal action against U.S. over his detention

LONDON — British political commentator Sami Hamdi said, on his arrival back in the United Kingdom on Thursday, that he was considering suing U.S. authorities for his detention in an immigration detention center over what he claims were his views on Gaza and Israel.

Two days after revealing he was leaving the U.S. voluntarily, Hamdi lauded federal judges for exonerating him over what he termed a “botched” detention by “extremists” within the U.S. government.

“I want to say that this wasn’t just an attack on me, it was an attack on the freedoms of ordinary Americans and citizens worldwide,” he told journalists and supporters outside a hotel near London’s Heathrow Airport following his return.

Hamdi, who is Muslim, was on a speaking tour in the U.S. when he was arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement on Oct. 26. He had just addressed the annual gala for the Sacramento chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, or CAIR, the day before his arrest.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security said at the time of Hamdi’s arrest that the U.S. State Department had revoked his visa and that ICE had put him in immigration proceedings. Homeland Security later accused him of supporting Hamas-led attacks on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.

Hamdi said later that his intent wasn’t to praise the attacks, but to suggest that the violence was “a natural consequence of the oppression that is being put on the Palestinians.”

“I did nothing illegal in the U.S.,” he said. “Everything was within the visa. Everything was in the limits of what the visa allowed me to do. The visa was revoked because of my advocacy for Palestine. It was revoked because of advocacy for Gaza.”

Hamdi’s detention was part of broader efforts by the Trump administration to identify and potentially expel thousands of foreigners in the United States who it says have either fomented or participated in unrest or publicly supported protests against Israel’s military operations in Gaza.

Those enforcement actions have been criticized by civil rights groups as violations of constitutional protections for freedom of speech, which apply to anyone in the United States and not just to American citizens.

Hamdi, 35, said that he’s discussing with his lawyers whether to sue American authorities, but added that he’s hesitating because “cool heads” in the State Department and the federal court system prevailed.

“In respect of those cooler minds, I would rather celebrate,” he said. “I won this case, the extremists failed to silence my voice, they failed to remove my freedom of speech. America stood with me.”

Hamdi said there are no conditions attached to his voluntary departure and that he’s not barred from seeking another U.S. visa in the future.

Ha and Pylas write for the Associated Press.