A former Taliban-appointed Afghanistan ambassador to Spain will remain in US immigration detention after a federal judge refused to order his release, according to media reports.
Mohammad Rahim Wahidi, an American resident and an Afghan diplomat, will spend time in a detention facility, reported Politico.
Mr Wahidi was detained on Saturday at the Dulles International Airport as he returned to Virginia from Turkey. The former Taliban official, who lives in Sterling with his American national wife Mary Shakeri-Wahidi, has been detained as part of a larger crackdown by the Trump administration targeting immigrants not in consensus with the foreign policy, his lawyer said.
After the petition hearing, US district judge Leonie Brinkema temporarily barred authorities from transferring the Afghan official out of the judicial district and asked for his appearance in court on Monday for a hearing. The judge has also declined to order his release and told the officials of their obligations to abide by the US customs and border protection’s detention standards.
“At this point the Court cannot offer any relief,” Ms Brinkema, an appointee of former president Bill Clinton, wrote in the order.
According to a petition filed on Sunday in a US District Court, the Afghan diplomat’s detention has been linked to the criminal charges his brother-in-law Farhad Shakeri faces in a New York federal court. Mr Shakeri has been accused of involvement in a criminal plot to assassinate US-based journalist Masih Alinejad who is critical of the Iranian government. The exiled journalist has reportedly thwarted multiple assassination attempts.
The emergency petition said Mr Wahidi was allegedly interrogated by FBI agents about Mr Shakeri upon his arrival at Dulles airport. His wife was released shortly after.
Mr Wahidi is already embroiled in a diplomatic tussle in Spain where he was accused of sexual assault in February. The Afghan official is accused of abusing his position to approach his victims and in one alleged case, committing rape after using a powerful drug, according to a report by German newspaper Die Welt.
The Spanish government has revoked his diplomatic immunity. “This person does not represent any official delegation, is not accredited in Spain and does not enjoy diplomatic immunity in our country,” Spain’s foreign ministry told The Telegraph.
The Independent has reached out to the Afghanistan embassy in Spain for a comment.
