Alireza Doroudi, the University of Alabama doctoral student detained by federal immigration, on Sunday returned to Iran after requesting voluntary deportation last month.

“Yesterday, June 1, 2025, Alireza Doroudi left the United to return to Iran,” his attorney David Rozas said in a recent release.

“His choice was made in response to a system that failed to uphold fairness, transparency, and due process.”

Doroudi was in federal custody for roughly two months after ICE agents showed up at his Tuscaloosa apartment around 3 a.m. on March 25.

“For weeks, Mr. Doroudi was held in detention without any substantiated evidence presented to justify the initial claims of national security concerns,” Rozas said.

“Despite having no history of protest or political activity, and despite documentation indicating that his F-1 student visa remained valid until departure, Mr. Doroudi was denied bond and subjected to legal proceedings riddled with delay and contradiction.”

In his May 8 hearing before Judge Maithe Gonzalez, Doroudi made the “difficult decision” to request voluntary departure, Rozas said.

“It was a heartbreaking moment,” Rozas continued.

“He turned and said, ‘I love this country, but they don’t want me here so I will go home.’”

Rozas said previously the only charges against Doroudi were the revocation of his student F-1 visa and an allegation that he was “not in status.”

But documentation about the visa revocation stipulated the revocation upon Doroudi’s removal from the United States, Rozas said.

Rozas said this meant “that the initial reason for arrest 45 days ago was an error.”

During his hearing in May, Rozas said the Department of Homeland Security signaled their intention to drop Doroudi’s charge.

The University of Alabama had advised Doroudi that he was legally allowed to stay but would not be allowed to re-enter if he left, his fiancé, Sama Bajgani added.

At his hearing a U.S. government attorney said the visa revocation was “prudential,” meaning it would not go into effect until after he left the country — in line with what the university told Doroudi earlier.

Gonzalez called for additional hearings which would have required Doroudi to remain in detention as the legal process played out.

Rozas said previously that Doroudi’s decision to leave would allow him to avoid “prolonged and unnecessary detention.”

“Mr. Doroudi’s return is a warning,” Rozas said this week.

“When individuals are detained without evidence, forced to disprove unfounded allegations, and pressured to leave a country they sought to contribute to, we must ask: What message are we sending to international students? To immigrant communities? To those who believe in the promise of American justice?”

“This was not justice,” Rozas said.

“This was attrition by detention. And it should never have come to this.”

Bajgani said last month she will “grieve all the friendships and dreams we had with each other to build a life in (the U.S.).”

“It’s a sad day for America,” she said.

Moving forward, Rozas said he will “remain committed to seeking accountability for the failures that led to this outcome, and to ensuring that what happened to Mr. Doroudi does not happen again.”