A pro-Israel Moroccan journalist and political analyst was detained, interrogated, and deported from Cuba last Thursday.
Amine Ayoub - a fellow at the Middle East Forum (MEF) - was transiting through Havana when he was detained for 32 hours without food and water. During this time, Ayoub was subjected to four to five hours of vigorous questioning regarding the Israeli stamps in his passport, MEF said in a statement.
"Cuban authorities immediately subjected him to a four-to-five hour interrogation focused obsessively on Israeli visa stamps, seized his phone under false pretenses of “checking reservations,” and ultimately denied his onward travel without explanation or documentation," MEF added.
In addition to being deprived of water or food, Ayoub was escorted by guards to the bathroom, and kept under surveillance.
"They treated me like a terrorist,” Ayoub told Ynet. “They held me there like a criminal."
According to Ayoub, Havana’s chief of police personally escorted him onto a deportation flight to Morocco.
The Cuban regime's 'authoritarian malice'
“The Cuban regime’s savage treatment of Amine Ayoub exposes the depths of its authoritarian malice and its willingness to export Middle Eastern extremism to the Western Hemisphere,” declared MEF Executive Director Gregg Roman.
“This despotic government deliberately avoided creating any official record of Mr. Ayoub’s detention—a calculated attempt to intimidate advocates for truth and democracy while evading accountability. We demand international condemnation of this outrage and call for immediate sanctions against a regime that harbors ties to terrorism while trampling fundamental human rights.”
Cuba ended all diplomatic ties with Israel in 1974, and has allied with Iran and Iranian terrorist proxies, reiterating its support for the Islamic Regime in June 2025 during the Iran-Israel war. Cuba also recognized the Palestine Liberation Organization in 1964.
According to Roman, Ayoub's detention reflects the "insidious reach of the Tehran-Havana axis of repression."