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.

Ayman’s troubles began after he was granted asylum, when he lost his job as a prison chaplain in Oregon because a red flag appeared on his FBI background check without explanation. His legal team sued for more information, but the case remains pending, highlighting the lack of transparency that has defined his ordeal.

According to Ayman’s lawyer Robert Ratliff, the case for revoking his asylum appeared to rest on his position on the board of Al Jameya Al Shara’iyya, an Egyptian organization that provides medical aid and does charity work. An asylum officer claimed without evidence that the organization was linked to the Muslim Brotherhood. However, the U.S. government has not labeled the Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist organization. And even in Egypt—where authorities routinely abuse terrorism laws to silence dissent—the Al Jameya Al Shara’iyya has not been accused of terrorism or even having links to the Muslim Brotherhood.

“We are quite literally fighting for Mr. Soliman’s life in these court proceedings. We can not allow agency officials to make arbitrary decisions like ripping away lawful grants of asylum status years later without evidence,” his lawyer, Kathryn Brady, said in a statement. “In all respects, we will fight for Mr. Soliman’s due process rights and freedom, based on the rule of law.”

Ayman’s detention is just one of a number of detentions over the past year that have shaken exiled dissidents across the United States. Those who fled brutal regimes in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) came to America believing this country would protect them and offer sanctuary to advocate for human rights. That promise is being broken.

“I feel the old, familiar weight of fear. The same self-censorship tactics I once used to survive back home have crept back in,” one researcher from the Middle East now living in the United States told MEDC recently. “I find myself second-guessing every word I write, not because I’ve done anything wrong, but because I dared to stand for human rights and freedom.”

This fear is reshaping lives and challenging our ability to do our work. Exiled human rights advocates are hesitating to speak out online and stepping back from public advocacy. Others are avoiding immigration check-ins. Many live in limbo—technically protected by law but vulnerable to sudden policy changes or the whims of officials. 

The system often feels arbitrary and punitive, just like it does under authoritarian regimes in the MENA region, seemingly designed to wear people down. Recent changes in U.S. laws and policies have shaken the trust of those seeking refuge here, especially people fleeing persecution. Many have escaped dictatorships abroad only to find themselves trapped in a new form of oppression within the United States.

Despite the fear, many continue to speak up. Ayman’s arrest sparked protests in Cincinnati, which were met with shocking violence from police and led to the arrest of at least 13 people, including journalists.

At a hearing yesterday, U.S. attorneys amended the charges against Ayman, saying they were no longer claiming he should be deported due to support for a terrorist organization. For now, Ayman remains in an Ohio jail, awaiting deportation or release.

“If anything happens to me, just speak about me,” Ayman said before his arrest. We should listen to him and continue to speak up before it’s too late.

Sara Mohamed is the Unjust Detention manager at MEDC and a human rights defender from the MENA region now living in exile in the United States.