Lawyers Say Two U.S. Deportees Were Beaten and Detained in Equatorial Guinea
Rights & JusticeWell-covered
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The Facts
- Ahmed Soliman and Samson Birhane were deported from the United States to Equatorial Guinea.
- Lawyers and rights groups said police hooded and beat Soliman and Birhane at the Malabo hotel.
- The two men were subsequently taken into custody by Equatorial Guinean authorities.
- Lawyers and rights groups said the arrests were retaliation for reporting detention conditions and police violence.
- U.S. deportees have been held at a hotel on the outskirts of Malabo.
- More than 40 people have been deported from the United States to Equatorial Guinea.
- Soliman had been unable to see his attorneys for a week, according to one of his lawyers.
Context
Who are the two men reported detained?
Ahmed Soliman is an Egyptian national and Samson Birhane is from Eritrea; both were deported from the United States to Equatorial Guinea. Owensboro Messenger… AP NEWS Amnesty Internation…
Where were U.S. deportees being held?
Reports place them in a hotel on the outskirts of Malabo, Equatorial Guinea’s former capital, that authorities used to hold deportees. Owensboro Messenger… Reuters AP NEWS
What remains unresolved?
Equatorial Guinea’s government spokesman and its embassy in Washington did not respond to Reuters requests for comment, and Soliman’s lawyer said he had not been able to meet with him. Reuters U.S. News & World R… New Arab
Where Left and Right agree, and where they split
Left and right largely agree on this one.
- Where Left and Right agree
- Credible lawyer and rights-group accounts of hooding, beatings, and retaliatory arrests at the Malabo hotel are treated as established facts demanding accountability before more deportees arrive.
- Where Left and Right differ in emphasis
- The rights owed to deportees once expelled from U.S. custody, or whether Equatorial Guinea can be trusted as a removal partner.
- Why they won’t converge
- The split is trust-in-institution: whether U.S. obligation ends once deportees leave U.S. custody or extends to policing the foreign partner's conduct after transfer, a divide agreement on facts cannot settle.
How left and right read it
A deportation is not supposed to be a delivery into someone else's hands, yet more than 40 people sent from the United States to Equatorial Guinea have ended up in a hotel outside Malabo where lawyers and rights groups say Soliman and Birhane were hooded and beaten, then arrested for describing it. Soliman went a week without his attorneys. Counsel and protection are owed before any further transfer, because expulsion to a country where a person has no standing and no lawyer is confinement without limit.
“The Trump administration, however, has sought instead to expel them to third countries where they have no ties, do not speak the local language and have no legal status - trapping them in limbo.” — The Guardian
Removing people who have no right to be here is a sovereign prerogative, but the credibility of that authority rests on the partners we hand deportees to, and Equatorial Guinea has not held up its end. More than 40 people have gone to a hotel outside Malabo where lawyers and rights groups say Soliman and Birhane were hooded, beaten, then arrested for saying so, with Soliman cut off from counsel for a week. So what must Malabo prove before another flight lands?
The receipts — all 20 sources
Wire services (6)
Independent coverage (14)
Facts first. Then every angle.
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