Two men deported by the United States to Equatorial Guinea were bound, blindfolded and beaten by police after detainees publicised conditions inside a Malabo hotel being used as a detention centre, according to witnesses, lawyers and Amnesty International.
The men are Ahmed Soliman, a 31-year-old Egyptian national, and Samson Birhane, a 47-year-old Eritrean national.
Equatorial Guinean authorities arrested them on September 11 after accusing them of damaging property at Hotel Bamy, where people removed from the United States have been confined under a bilateral third-country deportation arrangement.
Witnesses told lawyers and news organisations that officers demanded access to the men’s telephones, placed bags over their heads, bound them and assaulted them before taking them away.
The Guardian reported witness allegations that the men were pushed or thrown down stairs during the incident. Amnesty International warned that both were at risk of further torture or other ill-treatment.
These descriptions are serious, corroborated allegations from multiple witnesses and advocacy organisations. Equatorial Guinea’s government had not issued a detailed public account responding to them when this report was prepared.
The authorities’ property-damage accusation has also not been tested in an open judicial proceeding.
Soliman and Birhane were subsequently transferred away from Hotel Bamy and detained in Malabo. Lawyers said they were initially held without access to counsel and that their precise conditions remained difficult to verify.
Their arrests followed the publication of videos and interviews documenting the treatment of US deportees at the hotel.
Earlier footage reviewed by Reuters showed an armed police officer pointing a firearm at deportees during a September 5 confrontation. Three witnesses separately described that incident to the news agency.
Soliman recorded some of the activity and had spoken to journalists about conditions in the facility.
Lawyers said officers returned after the footage received international attention, searched rooms and confiscated detainees’ telephones. Messages reviewed by Reuters indicated that security personnel referred specifically to the resulting news coverage.
That sequence has led detainees and rights advocates to allege that the arrests were retaliation for communicating with journalists and lawyers.
Retaliatory intent has not been formally established through an independent investigation. The timing, demands for telephones and reported references to media coverage are nevertheless important evidence requiring an official explanation.
Approximately 29 or 30 deportees reportedly remained at Hotel Bamy after the arrests.
Detainees have described continuous armed surveillance, inadequate medical treatment, a shortage of clean clothing and limited access to legal assistance. Lawyers said people with HIV, diabetes and other medical conditions depended on external advocates to obtain medication.
The United States has sent at least 66 people from several African countries, Cuba and Brazil to Equatorial Guinea under its third-country removal programme, according to reporting by The Guardian.
Washington transferred $7.5 million to Equatorial Guinea as part of an arrangement to accept people whom the United States could not return directly to their countries of origin.
Some of those deported had previously received protection from US immigration judges after establishing that repatriation could expose them to persecution or torture.
Soliman, who is gay, had secured protection from removal to Egypt based on the danger associated with his sexuality. He had lived in the United States for most of his life but lost permanent residency after a drug conviction.
Birhane arrived in the United States as a refugee when he was 13. He later lost immigration status following a robbery conviction dating to his youth, but an immigration judge concluded that he could face torture if returned to Eritrea.
Their criminal convictions explain the removal orders but do not eliminate legal protections against torture or other prohibited treatment.
The central controversy concerns whether sending them to a third country adequately protected those rights or merely transferred the danger to a different jurisdiction.
US Immigration and Customs Enforcement told The Guardian that people no longer in ICE custody were no longer the agency’s responsibility. It described those removed as having been deported to a safe third country.
The US State Department said the government would use lawful means to remove people without a right to remain in the United States. It declined to discuss private diplomatic communications or say whether Washington had intervened over the alleged violence.
Equatorial Guinea’s government and its embassy in Washington did not provide detailed responses to questions reported by Reuters and other organisations.
That silence prevents independent confirmation of whether Soliman and Birhane have received medical examinations, legal representation or formal hearings.
The African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights had already issued an interim order instructing Equatorial Guinea not to deport, transfer or relocate affected detainees against their will while a complaint concerning the arrangement is considered.
United Nations experts have also warned against returning deportees to countries where they face persecution—a practice known as refoulement.
The allegations emerged alongside a major US legal ruling affecting the wider programme.
On September 18, the First US Circuit Court of Appeals largely upheld a lower-court decision that rejected the administration’s policy for rapidly deporting people to countries with which they had no previous connection.
The disputed policy allowed authorities in some circumstances to provide as little as six hours’ notice before removal.
The appeals court said migrants must receive a meaningful opportunity to state that they fear persecution or torture in the proposed destination.
The three-judge panel did not prohibit every third-country deportation. It rejected procedures that deprived people of an effective opportunity to invoke protections established by immigration law.
The court overturned one separate part of the lower ruling concerning whether the government must first attempt removal to a country with which the person has ties.
The administration is expected to continue the litigation, potentially before the Supreme Court.
Department of Homeland Security General Counsel James Percival said the policy remained in force because the appellate decision had not yet taken effect. That represents the government’s procedural position, not a reversal of the judgment.
Third Country Deportation Watch estimates that more than 25,000 people have been sent from the United States to at least 29 countries under such arrangements.
The incidents in Malabo illustrate why notice and individual safety assessments matter.
A diplomatic assurance that a destination is safe does not by itself resolve evidence concerning detention, denial of medical care, police intimidation or possible onward removal to a country where torture is feared.
At the same time, every allegation must be independently investigated. Available reporting does not establish criminal responsibility through a completed judicial process, and the Equatorial Guinean officers accused of violence have not been publicly identified.
The immediate priorities are confirming the men’s location and physical condition, providing independent medical examinations and legal access, preserving video and witness evidence and preventing retaliation against other detainees.
The wider question concerns responsibility.
Washington maintains that its custodial obligation ends after removal. Rights advocates argue that the United States cannot arrange and finance transfers to another government while disregarding foreseeable abuse after arrival.
The treatment of Soliman and Birhane will consequently test not only Equatorial Guinea’s human-rights obligations but also the safeguards, transparency and accountability built into America’s expanding network of African deportation agreements.
