Ashraf al-Jailani, 41, who was detained three years ago after he was suspected of alleged terrorist ties, has removed a motion for Stay of Removal that could have helped keep him from being deported to his native Yemen.

Al-Jailani, whose wife and three children still resident in Kent, appealed to stay in the U.S. for fear that returning to Yemen would result in being detained and tortured by his home government because of terror suspicions raised in the U.S.

“The very real risk that he will be detained and tortured remains, ” al-Jailani’s lawyer, Farhad Sethna, said in a statement. “However, Ashraf believes that being held for the last three years without his family has been torture enough.”

During his three years detained by the U.S. government al-Jailani was held without charge, which spurred both local and national reaction to his incarceration.