An American convert to Islam who became the center of a national firestorm two years ago when he claimed he was unfairly placed on a Department of Homeland Security no-fly list has reportedly been arrested in Turkey on suspicion of being part of an ISIS cell.
PJ Media reported late Monday that Saadiq Long and seven others were arrested near the Turkey-Syria border on suspicion of being part of a terrorist cell. U.S. and Turkish officials confirmed the arrest, according to PJ Media’s Patrick Poole.
Long, a 10-year U.S. Air Force veteran living in Qatar, gained international attention in 2012 when several left-leaning news outlets took up his cause after he was informed in April of that year that he would be unable to fly to his native Oklahoma to visit his ailing mother.
Long’s story was picked up by Glenn Greenwald, then a journalist for The Guardian, who asserted that by being placed on a government no-fly list, he had been “exiled” from his homeland.
After Greenwald published his report in November 2012, Long was removed from the watch list and allowed to return to Oklahoma. But the 43-year-old’s troubles weren’t over. He claimed that after he returned to Oklahoma on Nov. 19 of that year, FBI agents showed up to his mother’s house and began following him. He was again placed on a no-fly list and prohibited from flying back to Qatar.
Now represented by the Oklahoma chapter of the Muslim civil rights group, the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), Long took his story to other national media outlets.
Mother Jones rallied to Long’s cause, as did MSNBC. CAIR representatives pushed the story and characterized it as an example of “Islamophobia.”
Long, who told MSNBC’s Chris Hayes that he converted to Islam while stationed in Turkey, eventually returned to Qatar, but only after taking a bus to Mexico and flying back to the Middle Eastern nation.
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The Daily Caller was able to confirm that Long, his wife, and their daughter were detained in Turkey. A family relative told TheDC that the U.S. embassy in Ankara had confirmed the arrest but did not provide additional details. The relative said that an attorney is working on getting in touch with Long but claims that the Turkish immigration office is currently denying access.
Long’s CAIR representative, Adam Soltani, did not respond to TheDC’s request for comment. An email sent to the U.S. embassy in Ankara was also not returned as of press time.