Trump travel ban: British BBC reporter Ali Hamedani has Twitter account checked by border officers BBC World Service reporter Ali Hamedani has described the “unpleasant” experience of being stopped, searched and having his Twitter account […]

BBC World Service reporter Ali Hamedani has described the “unpleasant” experience of being stopped, searched and having his Twitter account checked under President Donald Trump’s immigration order.

Mr Hamedani, a British citizen who was born in Iran, was travelling from London to Chicago’s O’Hare airport. His country of birth is one of the seven nations whose citizens have been banned from entering the US under President Trump’s policy.

After landing in the US, Mr Hamedani claimed that border officers invited him to a waiting room. They then searched his phone – after requesting his password – and computer and questioned him about his passport before releasing him two hours later.

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‘Shocking moment’

“The very shocking moment was… when the guy asked for my mobile phone password and I had first my finger then they tried to somehow keep my phone unlocked so they can search it,” Mr Hamedani told BBC 5 Live.

“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 out about any kind of political views, whether I’m supporting anybody – any kind of extremist idea or not.”

“They were following me on Twitter, 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’.” Ali Hamedani

“He kept questioning me about an Iranian passport, why I’m holding a British passport, why I didn’t enter the country with an Iranian passport.”

Mr Hamedani said it appeared as though he was being questioned to cross-check the information he gave when applying for a media visa last year.

He likened the experience to the time that he was arrested in Iran in 2009 because of his work for the BBC.

“I felt the same this time as well when they took away my phone and laptop and the guy was trying to keep my phone unlocked,” he said.

Border officers were ‘respectful’

Although the experience in the US was not pleasant, it was “respectful”. Mr Hamedani understood that the border officers were trying to communicate that they were just doing their job.

After two hours, Mr Hamedani was allowed to leave. He described seeing the 50 protesters waiting in the arrival hall of the airport for people affected by President Trump’s policy as a “touching moment”.

“They were following me on Twitter, 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’.”

Since Mr Hamedani’s experience, Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson has said that anyone travelling to the US from the UK should not experience extra checks regardless of their nationality or place of birth.