Home > Tech > Tech Industry

Iran born BBC journalist tweets odyssey of going through U.S. airports

“It wasn’t pleasant at all."

Gianluca Mezzofiore

on January 30, 2017

A BBC journalist has tweeted his experience of travelling through Los Angeles airport after Donald Trump imposed a travel ban on seven Muslim-majority countries.

Ali Hamedani, a British citizen who was born in Iran, said he was detained for two hours and was forced to undergo invasive checks at the US border.

Officials took away his phone and started searching his Twitter account for political views.

Hamedani, who works for BBC World Service, had travelled from London Heathrow to Chicago O'Hare airport while holding a British passport:

This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed.

Hamedani told BBC Radio 5 Live's Stephen Nolan: “So they took away my phone and they started searching and I saw the guy searching my Twitter account.

“So they were looking to find about any kind of political views, whether I’m supporting anybody – any kind of extremist idea or not.

Mashable Light Speed

Want more out-of-this world tech, space and science stories?

By clicking Sign Me Up, you confirm you are 16+ and agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.

Thanks for signing up!

“They also asked me questions about whether I have been trained by the military, if I had been trained in military bases in Iran or when was the last time I was back home in Iran.

“It wasn’t pleasant at all. To be honest with you, I was arrested back home in Iran in 2009 because I was working for the BBC and I felt the same this time.”

He said he was "touched" by the sight of protesters at the airport after making it through security: “The very touching moment was when I came out of the whole thing, when I came out into the arrival hall, I have met more than 50 people, most of them American ... and they hugged me and they welcomed me and they were trying to say ‘this is not the real America, we are the real American people’.”