Today, Ayman Soliman was released from immigration jail and his legal asylum status was reinstated. Some of his best friends, supporters, and attorneys met him outside the Butler County Jail.

At 5pm, Mr. Soliman, his attorneys, and his community will gather at the Clifton Mosque in Cincinnati to celebrate this tremendous victory.

Ayman Soliman is not a murderer or a terrorist. The U.S. government’s case against him is riddled with mistakes. And deporting him to Egypt — a place where he was already tortured for helping to broadcast the pro-democracy movement, and where people are still being murdered and tortured today — is a death sentence.

Yet the Department of Homeland Security continues to seek the deportation of the former Cincinnati Children’s Hospital chaplain, rather than admitting its mistakes. 

Late Friday, news broke that Ohio Guard members may be deployed inside the state, to help the federal government deport Ohioans born in other countries. We didn’t hear this from the President. We didn’t hear this from Governor DeWine, who is the only person authorized to deploy the Ohio Guard. 

If this is true, we deserve to hear it from the Governor directly. And our voices deserve to be heard before a decision is made. We do not want, and do not need, militarized communities and streets.

We, the undersigned concerned community members, write to you with urgent concern for Chaplain Ayman Soliman, who is currently in detention and facing deportation – a move that would almost certainly mean his death. Our community, and our friend, desperately need your help.

Ayman was placed into solitary confinement “as a result of targeted harassment due to [his] attempt to practice his religion,” and denied access to counsel. These serious, constitutional violations are part of a daily pattern and practice at this jail.

Today attorney Robert A. Ratliff, with Brennan, Manna & Diamond, LLC, in collaboration with the attorneys Kathryn Brady and Franchel Daniel at the Muslim Legal Fund of America, filed an emergency petition for writ of habeas corpus pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2241 and a request for temporary restraining order (Case No. 25 cv. 556) in federal court. 

Listen to Mustapha Komeh talk about his time at the Butler County Jail in these testimonies, recorded in August 2025