A few days ago the Sofia Administrative Court ordered in his favour to be released from detention in the Busmantsi Migrant Detention Center. Despite that order, the State Agency of National Security (SANS) entered his cell violating his rights to translation and transparency of documentation, as well as threatening him phisically and denying access to his lawyer. Below you can read the full story as Abdurahman Al-Khalidi described it. Please, sign this petition to help him gain back his freedom! 

"I am Abdulrahman Al-Bakr (Al-Khalidi), and I write urgently to draw attention to the ongoing violations of my rights and the blatant disregard for the rule of law in my case.In a decision dated March 26, 2025, the Sofia Administrative Court ordered my immediate release from the closed asylum detention facility where I have been held for over three and a half years. This is the second final and non-appealable court ruling which orders my immediate release. The first decision was issued on January 18, 2024, while the current one was issued on March 26, 2025, and communicated to me on the afternoon of March 28 (Friday).On that same afternoon, at exactly 5:20 p.m., two individuals in plain clothes summoned me while I was in my room in the State Agency for Refugees (SAR) section of the detention facility in Busmantsi, where I was being detained. They identified themselves as coming from the Migration Directorate at Maria Luisa boulevard in downtown Sofia. They began speaking to me in Bulgarian without me understanding what was happening and without any prior warning. I had no idea what was going on. I assumed they were taking me to be released, as the court had ruled in my favor. Instead, they called an interpreter over the phone to inform me of my transfer to the migration section of the detention facility, where foreigners are held for the purpose of expulsion and deportation measures. At that moment, I realized that the authorities, rather than complying with the court’s decision to release me, were doing everything in their power to keep me in detention and deport me at the earliest opportunity, despite my asylum claim which is still ongoing.The order issued by the State Agency for National Security (SANS) was read to me orally and translated by an interpreter over the phone. However, the situation was so tense and confusing that I could not fully comprehend what was being said or what was required of me. I was not given the opportunity to review a written order in my own language. I tried to contact my lawyer, but the person reading the order, I.B., along with his accompanying colleague, physically restrained me with force, seized my phone, and prevented me from reaching my lawyer. They then coerced me into signing, threatening that I would not receive a copy for appeal if I did not comply. To this day, I have not received an official written copy of this order translated into Arabic, and furthermore, I experienced clear physical assault by officials not authorized to restrain me with their hands or forcibly take my phone—a private possession compliant with detention center protocols—while barring me from contacting my lawyer. This is not only a violation of my rights, but a clear tactic to prevent me from understanding the legal basis for my continued detention.Any claims that the authorities have the right to continue detaining me under the pretext of national security, based on Article 67(3) of the Law on Asylum and Refugees (ZUB), are baseless. This article states: "The restrictions on the use of coercive administrative measures under the Law on Foreigners in the Republic of Bulgaria (ZChRB) do not apply if there are grounds to believe that an asylum seeker poses a threat to national security." However, this interpretation is deeply flawed and contradicts fundamental principles of international law.Under European law, specifically Article 8(1) of the Reception Conditions Directive (2013/33/EU), detention of asylum seekers is explicitly described as a measure of last resort, permissible only when less coercive alternatives are unavailable and when it is necessary and proportionate to achieve specific aims, such as verifying identity or protecting national security, based on an individual assessment. In my case, the court has already ruled for my immediate release twice, and in the first instance, the administrative authorities granted to themselves the appeal of a final, non-appealable judicial decision. My asylum proceedings remain ongoing, and according to international law, exclusion clauses related to national security can only be applied after a final asylum decision has been issued. Using this provision before my asylum claim is fully reviewed is a flagrant violation of the non-refoulement principle and an attempt to circumvent due process. Instead of respecting the judicial ruling, SANS exploits legal loopholes to justify my continued detention and ultimately pave the way for my deportation at any moment, which would put my life in grave danger.The State Agency for National Security, Migration Police, and Refugee Agency have added a new chapter in their contempt for all international agreements, fundamental rights, European regulations, and United Nations rules. They have further scorned my human worth and the meaning of my existence by taking increasingly arbitrary actions and circumventing the court’s decision during Eid al-Fitr the most spiritual occasion for Muslims, which also brings joy to our non-Muslim friends ruining my happiness and that of my children, and exacerbating the continuous and deliberate psychological torment I have endured for over three and a half years (since October 2021) at a time when release would have made a real difference.This measure at this time was not spontaneous; it is part of a series of relentless pressure tactics to break my resolve to pursue asylum and force me to return. Today also marks March 31, the first anniversary of a criminal assault by some police officers against me, after which they were returned to their duties instead of being held accountable under the law.I am not an accused person, nor am I guilty, nor have I been convicted of anything to seek pardon or forgiveness. I have been denied any opportunity for effective legal redress or equality before the judiciary to challenge deportation decisions, under the unconstitutional pretext that "decisions of the State Agency for National Security are not subject to judicial oversight."This pattern of contempt for the judiciary and abuse of power against me poses a grave threat not only to my life but also to civil liberties, favoring coercive administrative measures whose mechanisms of impunity are shaped without the need to rely on evidence or facts.I urge the international community, human rights organizations, and journalists to expose this injustice and press the Bulgarian authorities to comply with their legal obligations. My life and freedom depend on it."