A UNITED STATES federal judge ordered immigration officials to release the president of Wisconsin’s largest mosque from detention on Thursday.

US District Judge James Patrick Hanlon found that Salah Sarsour had raised a “substantial” claim that he was being targeted by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) agents for speaking out in favour of Palestinian rights.

Mr Sarsour, a Palestinian-born legal permanent resident of the US, was taken into custody by Ice agents on March 30. The government has claimed he is a foreign policy threat, but Mr Sarsour’s attorneys say he was actually targeted for speaking out against Israel.

Judge Hanlon wrote in a decision Thursday that lawyers for Ice and the Department of Homeland Security did not provide enough evidence to refute Mr Sarsour’s claims of retaliation for free speech, nor did they explain why Mr Sarsour was suddenly considered a threat now after more than three decades of legal residency in the US.

“The mere invocation of foreign relations concerns does not automatically trump First Amendment rights,” wrote Judge Hanlon.

Mr Sarsour was released from the Indiana county jail hours after the ruling, and allowed to return to his Milwaukee home while his immigration case moves forward.

He said: “I am so relieved to be with my family. For 80 days, I haven’t been able to step outside and breathe fresh air. 

“This experience is a reminder to all of us that we must fight together for our right to be a voice for the silenced. I will never stop speaking for Palestine and humanity, wherever I am.”

Mr Sarsour, who has type two diabetes, has lost more than 2 stone during his incarceration and his lawyers say his blood sugar levels were only being checked once a month in the jail, putting him at risk of organ failure or death. 

Mr Sarsour’s legal team said in a statement that the ruling is “a sober reminder that, if the government can target Mr Sarsour, everyone’s free speech rights are at risk.” 

A statement from the Department of Homeland Security called Mr Sarsour “a terrorist who was convicted of throwing Molotov cocktails” and said any accusation of discrimination by Ice agents is false.

Mr Sarsour has no criminal record in the US.

He was convicted by the Israeli Ramallah Military Court in 1989 of throwing a Molotov cocktail and stones at Israeli army forces and by the same court in 1995 of attempting to hold weapons and ammunition.