CAIRO, Mar 4 (Aswat Masriya) - The United States immigration authorities are “insisting” on deporting Egyptian aviation student Emad el-Sayed straight from an Orange County jail over a Facebook post allegedly threatening presidential candidate Donald Trump, lawyer Hani Bushra said on Friday.

Bushra wrote in online statements that he had visited el-Sayed and that el-Sayed “is very devastated.”

The student had been moved to “a much worse cell” in jail and denied visits from media personnel “even though he consented to them,” the lawyer wrote.

According to the lawyer, the U.S. government has rejected that Emad ask for voluntary departure in exchange for a short release to get his affairs in order before leaving the country. He was also refused release with supervision or ankle monitoring.

The 23-year-old was in Los Angeles, California studying aviation at the Universal Air Academy. According to his family’s statement on Facebook, el-Sayed disappeared on Feb. 12 and his whereabouts remained unknown to his family and friends in Egypt until Feb. 18, when the family learned that el-Sayed was apprehended by the FBI.

El-Sayed’s visa was later revoked.

“It seems that, once again, our government is using its immense power to intimidate and harm Emad,” Bushra said.

According to el-Sayed’s sister, the FBI arrested el-Sayed “for sharing a post that was against the U.S. candidate Donald Trump, as ridiculous as it may sound, yes it is in fact the reason why he was put under arrest.”

In his Facebook post, el-Sayed reportedly stated that he would be willing to serve a life sentence for killing presidential candidate Donald Trump and that the world would thank him for it.

"It's just a stupid post. You can find thousands of these every hour on Facebook and the media," el-Sayed told The Associated Press in a phone interview from jail. "I don't know why would they think I am a threat to the national security of the United States just because of a stupid post."

El-Sayed’s comments came after Trump called for the banning of all Muslims from entering the United States.

Various U.S. based news outlets, including ABC news, cited an Immigration and Customs Enforcement statement which said that el-Sayed was arrested because he violated "the terms of his admission to the United States," but did not provide further details.

Youmna Hazzaa, a long-time family friend of el-Sayed, told Aswat Masriya that she had lost contact with Emad before he left to the U.S., "but it still just hurts me so much to know that he can't pursue what he wants, just because of a meaningless Facebook post."

"Emad is a great person. He was never violent or anything like that. Just a super kind soul with so much kindness," she said.

Hazzaa criticised the U.S. authorities' reaction to el-Sayed's post. "I would say Emad messed up a little by threatening to kill him, since we all know how the States reacts to such things. They simply don't get jokes or can't differentiate between someone who's actually harmful and someone who isn't."