To the organizers and members of Amnesty International in the United States and around the world:
I write with deep gratitude for your solidarity during my recent detention. In moments when my freedom was stripped from me, your support reminded me that I was not alone, that my voice still carried, and that the struggle for justice is larger than any one of us.
For 104 days, I was unlawfully detained by U.S. immigration authorities in rural Louisiana and separated from my family and my community for speaking out against the genocide of my people. The support of communities from around the world is what kept me going. You kept me going. Thank you for raising your voices when I was detained and separated from my family.
My release is not the end of this story. Many others remain behind bars – immigrants, refugees, and activists who, like me, were torn from their families by the Trump administration’s cruel machinery of suppression, detention, and deportation. Their names are less visible, their stories less told, but their suffering is no less real. I ask that we continue to hold them in our collective conscience and fight for their freedom.
My detention was political. It was an attempt to silence me for speaking openly about Palestinian rights, for refusing to let the daily reality of occupation, apartheid, forced starvation and mass killing be normalized. But repression does not weaken conviction, it strengthens it. I will not back down. The fight for Palestinian liberation is inseparable from the global struggle for justice, dignity, and human rights that Amnesty International has long championed.
Thank you for standing with me, not only in my personal ordeal but in the broader struggle that connects all of us. Though powerful forces are trying to discredit, dehumanize and erase us, we must continue our work together.
Many Palestinians across the occupied territories and across the world are still suffering. Families are still struggling to survive. Children are still being starved. Lives are still being destroyed.
So please, stay committed to your important activism. Keep raising your voices. Keep demanding justice and accountability. Keep fighting — not just for me, but for all of us.
In solidarity,
— Mahmoud Khalil
We had the honor of meeting Mahmoud Khalil, who is finally free and reunited with his wife and young son after being trapped in ICE detention for more than 100 days. He spoke with deep emotion about the toll of his detention as well as the incredible outpouring of support from people like you.
Mahmoud has asked to pass along the message above. We hope his words encourage you to continue to help advance the critical work he is bravely continuing to do, despite the unimaginable conditions he faced.
On behalf of all of us here at Amnesty, thank you so much for your important activism. Our work is making a difference, and Mahmoud’s freedom is proof of that.