Judge Orders Release of Iranian Bodybuilder After Months in Custody

(UNITED STATES) A federal judge has ordered the release of Hamid Ziaei, an Iranian migrant and competitive bodybuilder who had been held by U.S. immigration authorities for nearly five months, after finding that the length of his detention raised due‑process concerns, according to news reports published December 15 and 16, 2025. The judge directed his “immediate release from custody,” the reports said — a rare rebuke in a system where Immigration detention is often treated as routine while removal cases drag on.

Ziaei, whose surname is also reported as Ziaeis, fled Iran after speaking out against the government and says he fears persecution if he is sent back, according to the Raleigh Daily News / The Daily News Now account. His case has drawn attention because it sits at the fault line of two hard problems in U.S. immigration law: how long the government can hold someone when deportation is not moving, and what happens when returning a person to their home country could expose them to harm.

Timeline and procedural gaps

The available reporting does not name the judge, the court, or quote from the written order, leaving gaps that lawyers and advocates often try to fill by pulling federal docket records. Still, the basic timeline is clear:

• Re‑detained: June 2025
• Held in custody: nearly five months (until the recent order)
• Release order issued: reported December 15–16, 2025

Ziaei’s attorneys challenged the confinement as unconstitutional given the lack of “clear progress toward deportation to a third country,” according to the Raleigh outlet’s summary.

Legal issue: detention tied to removal

Immigration detention is tied to a purpose: to allow the government to carry out removal. When removal cannot be completed in a predictable time frame, courts sometimes intervene — especially when officials cannot say where or when a person will be sent.

In Ziaei’s case, his lawyers argued:

• Deporting him to Iran was not a safe or lawful option because he could face persecution there.
• The government had not shown a viable alternative destination.

Those points matter because habeas and other federal challenges to immigration confinement hinge on facts such as:

1. How long the person has been held.
2. Whether the government is making steady progress toward removal.
3. Whether the detainee is cooperating with travel paperwork.

Human impact of detention

The reports describe the physical and mental toll of detention on a man whose identity and livelihood are built around training. Attorneys said Ziaei suffered “anxiety, panic attacks, and loss of weight and muscle mass” while locked up, language that puts a human face on the abstract term detention.

For migrants, months in custody can mean:

• Lost jobs
• Missed medical care
• Family life put on pause
• Damage to careers and physical health

“Anxiety, panic attacks, and loss of weight and muscle mass” — attorneys’ description of Ziaei’s health impacts while detained.

Case history and release authority

Ziaei’s history in the system adds another layer:

• Initially rejected for asylum.
• Released in mid‑2024 with work authorization because of concerns about persecution if he returned to Iran.
  • Work authorization is often granted while other forms of relief or appeals remain pending and allows someone to support themselves while reporting to immigration officials.
• Re‑detained in June 2025, indicating a shift back toward custody while his case continued.
  • The reports do not say what triggered the re‑detention.

The judge’s order, while narrow, will be read closely because it signals that prolonged immigration detention without a clear end point can collide with due‑process protections. Immigration proceedings are civil, not criminal, but people in immigration custody can challenge unlawful confinement via federal court petitions (often habeas corpus).

Broader stakes and context

For Iranian nationals, stakes can be especially high. The United States has long treated many claims of political persecution from Iran as serious, yet each case hinges on:

• Individual proof
• Credibility findings
• Possible changed country conditions or new evidence

A person can lose an asylum case and still later argue they cannot be sent home. The reports do not detail what Ziaei said in his earlier asylum case or why it was denied, so readers should avoid assuming the outcome of his broader immigration fight.

The order also arrives amid wider disputes about immigration detention involving the Biden administration, state and local officials, and advocacy groups — centering on capacity, costs, and conditions. The underlying questions are broad: how to balance enforcement with basic procedural fairness, and how to avoid holding people when the government cannot promptly complete deportation.

Practical resources and current unknowns

People trying to track a relative in immigration custody can use the federal government’s ICE Online Detainee Locator System:

• Official link: https://locator.ice.gov/odls/#/index
  • It provides information on whether someone is currently in ICE custody, though it may not show recent transfers.

The reports did not quote ICE or the Department of Homeland Security, and there is no public detail about whether Ziaei was released on bond, on parole, or under supervision. In many cases, a judge can order release while removal proceedings continue, leaving a person to:

• Check in with ICE
• Attend immigration court dates

For families, the difference between custody and freedom can come down to paperwork and a bed space.

Analysis and remaining questions

According to analysis by VisaVerge.com, cases like Ziaei’s show how detention can become a pressure point in removal cases — even when the legal dispute is about protection from return, not about flight risk.

For Hamid Ziaei, the judge’s release order ends a nearly five‑month period behind bars, but it does not resolve the bigger question of where he will ultimately be allowed to live. Until more court documents surface, much of the public record remains filtered through secondhand summaries, even as the human consequences of detention are clear in the health impacts his attorneys described.