The Daily Populous Wednesday August 27th, 2025 morning edition
Image from preview.redd.it and submitted by LKM_44122

LKM_44122 on August 26th, 2025 at 15:11 UTC »

When Imam Ayman Soliman left Egypt in 2014, it was not by choice but by necessity. After documenting the Arab Spring uprising as an independent journalist, he was arrested by Egyptian authorities and tortured for his work. Seeking safety, he fled to the United States, leaving behind his wife, child, and the life he knew and loved.

“Going back to Egypt for me is a death sentence,” he said in a recent interview. “I didn’t come to America seeking a better life, I was escaping death.”

Ayman rebuilt his life in the United States, becoming a religious leader and chaplain who provided spiritual comfort to sick children at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital. He thought prison and persecution were behind him. He was wrong.

On July 9, Ayman was arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in Blue Ash, Ohio, his asylum revoked and his freedom stripped away with the same arbitrary cruelty he fled in Egypt. He now sits in an immigration detention center, facing deportation to a country where he risks imprisonment, torture, or worse.

Ayman was granted asylum in 2018 based on a well-founded fear of persecution in Egypt, where tens of thousands of political prisoners continue to languish behind bars, solely for exercising their right to freedom of expression or assembly. The basis for revoking his asylum has not been disclosed and ICE has provided no clear explanation for his continued detention.

https://mideastdc.org/publication/persecuted-in-egypt-detained-in-america-the-story-of-imam-ayman-soliman/

This morning was his immigration hearing at the Carl B. Stokes Federal Court House Building, so there were people inside supporting him, and Burning River Brigade was supporting him from outside.

If ANYONE is welcome in the United States as a refugee, it's someone who stands up for human rights in dangerous situations like this. Freedom of expression is a value America should stand for!

He might not share ALL the same views and beliefs but we are bound together by a shared passion for human rights and freedom of expression.

FREE AYMAN SOLIMAN!

salistajeep on August 26th, 2025 at 15:36 UTC »

I’m Egyptian, and I’m telling you, if he gets sent back to Egypt, he’s not getting out of prison as long as Sisi’s in charge. They’ll throw him in an underground cell where he’ll never see the sunlight again. He could even die from torture. Lately, we’ve been hearing more about people dying from it, it’s been happening for years, just kept hidden. And if he dies, they’ll just make up some story, like saying he was mentally ill or that he killed himself, or something ridiculous like that.

seattle_architect on August 26th, 2025 at 15:38 UTC »

“Imam Ayman Soliman’s asylum was revoked mainly due to allegations that he was associated with an Egyptian charity, Al Jameya Al Shara’iyya, which a U.S. asylum officer labeled as having “Tier III terrorist organization” ties to the Muslim Brotherhood—despite there being no evidence or designation of such from either the U.S. or Egyptian governments.”

https://mideastdc.org/publication/persecuted-in-egypt-detained-in-america-the-story-of-imam-ayman-soliman/