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The Guardian - US
The Guardian - US
World
Alice Speri

Detained in US for speech, a UK commentator speaks out: ‘They don’t want people like us to go to America’

A man smiles outside a building.
Sami Hamdi after his arrival in London after more than two weeks in US detention, on Thursday. Photograph: Anadolu/Getty Images

A British political commentator who was detained by immigration authorities in the US over his pro-Palestinian advocacy said shortly after returning to the UK on Thursday that his detention was “less an attack on me and more an attack on Americans and the rights of Americans themselves”.

Sami Hamdi arrived in London on Thursday, three weeks after he was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents at San Francisco international airport while on a speaking tour in the US. He agreed to leave the country after being guaranteed the right to apply for a new US visa, which he says he plans to do.

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