• 'No journalist should ever be detained, harassed in any way whatsoever,' says British MP Adnan Hussain

• 'Last two and a half weeks have felt like a year,’ Sami Hamdi’s wife says

LONDON

Sami Hamdi, a British journalist who returned to London after more than two weeks in US detention, said that targeting people for their activism over Palestine is an attack on civil liberties, freedoms, and the US Constitution.

Sami, a British-Tunisian commentator and journalist, was detained on Oct. 26 at San Francisco International Airport by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents.

He had been visiting several US states with a valid visa and was preparing to fly to Florida for an event hosted by the California chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-CA) to speak about the Israeli genocide in Gaza.

US authorities said at that time that Hamdi's visa has been revoked.

"The United States has no obligation to host foreigners who support terrorism and actively undermine the safety of Americans. We continue to revoke the visas of persons engaged in such activity," the State Department wrote on X following his detention.

After more than two weeks in detention, he landed on Thursday at Heathrow Airport in London, where he was welcomed by his family members and friends.

In an interview with Anadolu, Hamdi said he is not the first to be targeted, naming Turkish student Rumeysa Ozturk, who was detained in March by immigration authorities, Mahmoud Khalil, an Algerian-Palestinian activist detained for more than 100 days and Palestinian activist Mohsen Mahdawi, who was also detained in the US over their activism on Gaza.

"Others were also attacked for their activism with regard to Palestine, for their activism in protesting against the genocide that is taking place," he said.

Hamdi noted that federal judges ruled that what he faced was an infringement on freedom of speech.

"I think there is a lobby that is anti-American that is trying to prevent people from manifesting that freedom of speech," he added, saying that this is a "wider trend."

'No journalist should ever be detained, harassed'

The detention of Hamdi drew criticism from activists and human rights groups, who viewed the move as part of a wider series of enforcement actions in which US authorities have targeted foreign nationals accused of participating in or supporting protests against Israeli actions in Gaza.

"I think what is happening here is an attack on civil liberties, an attack on freedoms, an attack on the US Constitution, an attack on the rights of the Americans," Hamdi said.

He also cited an "extremist lobby" whose only aim, he said, is "controlling the flow of information" to Americans to keep them from seeing the truth.

"I am not the target. The American people are the target. I just happen to be in the way," he added.

Hamdi also said that the British embassy was in touch with him and his lawyers during the detention.

His wife, Soumaya Hamdi, described her feelings as “over the moon” following Hamdi’s release.

"We've been waiting for this day ... The last two and a half weeks have felt like a year, honestly ... We can't wait now just to be together as a family again," she said.

Adnan Hussain, an independent British MP for Blackburn, was among the people who welcomed Hamdi at the airport.

Also speaking to Anadolu, he expressed relief after Hamdi's return to the UK, saying journalists are a cornerstone of democracies.

"No journalist should ever be detained, harassed in any way whatsoever ... they must never be treated in the manner that Sami has," he added.

Touching on a "growing threat" to freedom of speech, Hussain said everyone must stand up for the right to free speech anywhere and everywhere.

"Especially in some of the most oldest democracies in the world, like the USA, if journalists are being muzzled, are being detained as a result of their report, as a result of their speech, then it's certainly something that we've all got to become concerned about," he said.