US honeymoon ruined after British groom is detained 'for being Muslim'

US honeymoon ruined after British groom is detained 'for being Muslim'
A couple's $9,000 honeymoon ruined after being deported following lengthy questioning of the British-Turkish groom at Los Angeles International Airport.
2 min read
26 July, 2017
The couple have linked their experience to the Donald Trump's 'Muslim Ban' [Getty]


A newlywed British couple's honeymoon to the US was ruined when the groom was detained at Los Angeles airport, apparently because he was Muslim.

Natasha Politakis, 29, and Ali Gul, 32, had spent £7,000 ($9,100) on a two-week trip that would have taken them to Los Angeles, Hawaii and Las Vegas, but were forced to return home after the groom was detained. 

They say that no explanation was given for Gul's detention, which exceeded a day, however, they suspect it may be to do with his Turkish and Muslim heritage.

"I am in utter shock that this has happened," Politakis told The Sun.

"We had just got married, we were on our way to our honeymoon as excited as anything and never expected that we would be deported".

According to the couple, what they believed would be a brief questioning by security officials turned into a 26-hour ordeal.

During this time, they were reportedly refused access to a shower and had their luggage confiscated. Their mobile phones were only returned after they arrived back in the UK.

"We were treated like criminals and we had all the relevant documentation and answered all their questions," Politakis said. "It's not okay to treat people like that."

Given that their detention and deportation happened in the aftermath of the reinstatement of US President Donald Trump's travel ban, the newlyweds have linked their ordeal to the draconian policies targeting Muslim travellers, a claim the American embassy in the UK has denied.

"We believe since Trump was elected, they took one look at his name, thought he was Muslim and didn't let him in," Politakis said.

Following the release of the story, the US embassy in London released a statement saying that religious discrimination is not grounds on which immigration is rejected.

"The religion, faith, or spiritual beliefs of an international traveller are not determining factors about his/her admissibility into the US," the statement said.

"Under US immigration law applicants for admission bear the burden of proof to establish that they are clearly eligible to enter the United States ... In order to demonstrate that they are admissible, the applicant must overcome ALL grounds of inadmissibility," it added.