Immigration authorities in the US agreed in a hearing on Friday to deport Egyptian student Emad El-Din El-Sayed in July.
El-Sayed was arrested there for allegedly threatening US presidential candidate Donald Trump on Facebook, his lawyer and family sources said.
El-Sayed, who was studying in the Universal Air Academy in California, was reportedly arrested by immigration authorities and jailed in Orange County since 12 February.
His lawyer, Hani Bushra, explained that that the authorities have permitted a “voluntary departure”, which means he agreed not to contest the case and return to his country.
However, Bushra added that his client’s appeal to be released until the date of departure was denied. Henceforth, he will leave the US “escorted by guards from jail directly to New York, where he will take the flight to Cairo”.
El-Sayed was purportedly arrested for posting on his Facebook page that he is “willing to kill” Donald Trump, “does not mind serving a life sentence” and that “the whole world would thank him for this”, according to the lawyer.
The post was taken down after the student was investigated. Unconfirmed reports claimed a Universal Air Academy official reported the post to the FBI after seeing it.
His sister Ohoud Ali told Daily news Egypt that prior to El-Sayed’s arrest; he was visited twice by the FBI regarding his post. The FBI purportedly considered the post as hostile content against the presidential candidate.
Later on, the charge of “threatening Trump” was dropped, and instead the state department cancelled his visa and he was purportedly arrested for being in the US without permission.
According to Ali, the Egyptian consulate in Los Angeles called the family and said he spoke to El-Sayed and urged him to sign a document of consent that would allow the consulate to intervene in his favour.
However, fearing that signing such a paper would somehow confirm ill intent, El-Sayed refused to sign, according to Ali.
Daily News Egypt contacted the US Embassy in Cairo, but the representative refused to comment, explaining that it is against the embassy’s regulations to provide information about individuals.
