Two US deportees were severely beaten and abused in an Equatorial Guinea detention hotel, allegedly for speaking to the press. Other deportees remain trapped in dangerous conditions, while human rights advocates warn of a 'catastrophe' and US authorities remain silent despite receiving millions for the deportation program.
Two men deported from the US to Equatorial Guinea by the Trump administration, Ahmed Soliman (Egypt) and Samson Birhane (Eritrea), were reportedly bound, had bags placed over their heads, beaten, and pushed down stairs at the Hotel Bamy, a facility used as a detention center. This brutal incident occurred in plain view of other US deportees. Witnesses and human rights lawyers state the men were subsequently taken to a prison. Approximately 30 other US deportees remain trapped at the Hotel Bamy, fearing retaliation and haunted by flashbacks. They believe Soliman and Birhane were targeted for exposing the poor conditions and violence within the hotel to the press and human rights advocates. Human rights experts have long warned about the dangerous conditions at Hotel Bamy. The US has sent at least 66 individuals from various countries to Equatorial Guinea as part of a $7.5 million cooperation deal. This policy by the Trump administration involves expelling immigrants to third countries where they have no ties, language skills, or legal status, even when US judges have ruled they would face torture or persecution in their home countries. Equatorial Guinea's authoritarian government is notorious for human rights abuses, including torture, according to the US State Department. Detainees at Hotel Bamy report constant armed surveillance, lack of medical care, and no fresh clothes. Soliman, a gay man, and Birhane, a refugee, both came to the US as children and had been granted protection from deportation due to the risks they faced in their home countries. The beating of Soliman and Birhane on September 11 followed the release of a video, initially reported by Reuters, depicting the hotel's conditions and guards' violent behavior. Detainees had been using cellphones to communicate with lawyers and the media. After the incident, police confiscated cellphones from other detainees and barred lawyers from seeing them. Lawyers for the deportees have sent multiple unanswered emails to the US embassy in Equatorial Guinea, alerting them to threats and violence. The US Department of Homeland Security and State Department have declined to comment on the specific treatment of deportees, stating only that they 'use all legal means to remove those with no right to remain in our country.' Human rights experts at the United Nations have issued a rare public appeal, urging Equatorial Guinea to halt deportations and comply with international human rights standards, calling the situation a 'human rights catastrophe.'
