Derek Freal's case

06/06/2014

American travel blogger Derek Freal that overstayed his visa, was incarcerated in an immigration detention facility for deportation after posting a tweet that apparently offended immigration officials. Freal that run a travel website called The Holidaze crowdfunded his return plane ticket because he had no money left on him to return home.

Freal was angry at Surakarta's immigration office. "I used the F word and kantor imigrasi (immigration office) in a sentence and threatened to never return to Indonesia. Apparently, this empty thread that was deleted minutes after being tweeted, was taken seriously.

While governments have a long history denying entry to people for things they say and do. For example, John Lennon was denied entry to the USA in 1969 for his anti-war and anti-Nixon statements/activities), and in 2012, a UK couple were denied upon arrival to the USA for tweeting a perceived threat and forced to leave the following day. However, Freal's was the first known case of a foreign tourist who had been admitted to the country, then was later arrested and deported for something he tweeted.