CINCINNATI — Imam Ayman Soliman was arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement here July 9, a month after his official asylum status, approved in 2018, was revoked. He is being held in the Butler County Jail, along with hundreds of other immigrants facing deportation.
Soliman worked as a chaplain at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital. He left Egypt in 2014, after being jailed and tortured because as a journalist he covered the Arab Spring protests that brought down the Hosni Mubarak dictatorship.
Federal officials moved to revoke his asylum in December 2024 under the Joseph Biden administration, terminating it June 3. The government claimed a charity he was involved with in Egypt was tied to the Muslim Brotherhood and that amounted to “material support of terrorism.”
The charity, Al-Gam’iyya al-Shar’iyya, of which Soliman was a board member, provides health care to Egyptians. His lawyers are contesting the government’s claim, pointing out the Department of Homeland Security recently dropped allegations of Soliman’s support of terrorism.
Several protests have taken place demanding his freedom, including a vigil of 300 outside the Children’s Hospital.
More than 400 Christian, Jewish, and Muslim clergy members in the area have signed an open letter in support of Soliman. It urges that “ICE and all relevant authorities release him immediately and allow him to return home to his sacred work leading the Clifton Mosque community and caring for patients and families at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital.”
On July 17, as another peaceful protest of some 250 supporters of Soliman was wrapping up, some ultraleft forces tried to hijack it, calling for a march across the Roebling Bridge into Covington, Kentucky. Some beat on cars trying to cross the bridge.
Many participants were unwittingly drawn into a confrontation with Covington cops, who used clubs and fired pepper balls on the marchers, beating some to the ground. Fifteen were arrested and charged with felony rioting, obstructing a highway, disorderly conduct and resisting arrest.
“The ultraleft and provocative actions on the Roebling Bridge dealt a blow to the fight for justice for Ayman Soliman and restoration of his asylum status,” John Hawkins, Socialist Worker Party candidate for mayor of Cincinnati, told the Militant. “We need protests that can involve working people and our unions to fight for the right of due process and amnesty for Soliman, and all the other immigrants currently held in the Butler County Jail and nationwide.”
Soliman’s lawyers released a message from him July 22 saying, “Please I only wish for peaceful vigils.” They asked supporters to honor his wishes by “showing up with the same dignity, love and discipline that he has shown us.”
Soliman is spending his time in jail acting as an ad-hoc chaplain to other prisoners, his attorneys said. Tala Ali, chair of the board of the Clifton Mosque, reported Soliman has been advocating for Kosher and Halal meals there for those whose religions call for them.
Soliman said if he gets out and can remain in Ohio, he wants to volunteer to help as a chaplain at the Butler County jail.