By Enyichukwu Enemanna
An Egyptian man deported from the United States to Equatorial Guinea, has been taken into police custody and is being held incommunicado, his lawyer said on Friday.
This comes after Ahmed Soliman spoke out against alleged rough treatment by security forces in the African country.
Police in Equatorial Guinea had pulled guns on him and other migrants during an altercation last Saturday, three witnesses and video footage shared online indicate, intensifying concerns over the safety of migrants who have been sent there.
Later in the week, security forces returned to the Hotel Bamy, where the migrants are being held, and seized their phones, an immigration attorney at a U.S.-based law firm, Kate O’Donnell said. The firm has been representing Soliman.
On Friday, security forces took Soliman into custody, removing him from the hotel, O’Donnell said.
A coalition of human rights organisations and lawyers representing the deportees said a second member of the group was also arrested.
Equatorial Guinea’s government and its embassy in Washington have not responded to questions about the incident on Saturday or subsequent questions about Soliman’s whereabouts.
Soliman “knew that he was putting his neck out there by talking to reporters,” O’Donnell said, adding that his decision to do so involved a lot of “soul-searching” and consideration of potential repercussions.
“He has wanted to tell the world about what has been happening to them.”
The Trump administration has since last year struck multiple agreements with African governments to accept migrants who it cannot legally return to their home countries. Many of those deported under the so-called third-country arrangements had previously won protection from U.S. immigration judges, who ruled they could face torture or other abuses if repatriated.
Washington has defended the third-country deals as lawful and said deportations are carried out in accordance with U.S. immigration law.
Rights groups and advocates have said the arrangements are opaque and that some deportees are ultimately returned to the countries they originally fled.
“We demand the EG (Equatorial Guinea) authorities immediately confirm the whereabouts and safety of our clients, who have been subjected to police violence and are now being held incommunicado,” a coalition of human rights groups said.
The coalition in June filed a complaint against Equatorial Guinea at the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights over its agreement with Washington to accept third-country deportees.
