OU professor says he has been released from ICE custody
11/25/2025 10:18am
UPDATE 11/25/2025
NORMAN, Okla. – According to Dr. Abedini, he has been released from ICE custody. In a statement on social media, he writes.
“I’m relieved to share that I was released from custody tonight. It was a deeply distressing experience, especially seeing those without the I had. My sincere thanks to my friends and colleagues at the University of Oklahoma, the Middle East Studies Association, and the wider Iran studies and political science community for helping resolve this.”
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A professor at the University of Oklahoma was reportedly detained by ICE while boarding a flight to Washington D.C., according to an OU faculty member.
Dr. Vahid Abedini, who is the Farzaneh Family Assistant Professor of Iranian Studies at OU, is reportedly in ICE custody, according to a social media post made by Joshua Landis, who is the Sandra Mackey Chair and Director of the Center for Middle East Studies at OU.
Landis says Abedini was “wrongfully detained because he has a valid H-1B visa —a non-immigrant work visa granted to individuals in ‘specialty occupations,’ including higher education faculty.”
Abedini was listed in ICE’s Online Detainee Locator System on Monday, but he is no longer listed on the website.
