MALABO-(MaraviPost)-Two men deported from the United States to Equatorial Guinea have allegedly been hooded, bound, beaten with guns and pushed down a flight of stairs by police officers at a hotel being used as a detention facility.
The allegations, reported by international media and supported by accounts from witnesses, lawyers and human rights organisations, have intensified scrutiny of the Trump administration’s use of third-country deportations to send migrants to countries where they have no established ties.
The two men have been identified as Ahmed Soliman, an Egyptian national, and Samson Birhane, who is from Eritrea.
Both were deported from the United States to Equatorial Guinea and were being held at Hotel Bamy in Malabo, where dozens of other deportees remain under armed guard.
Witnesses and lawyers say police officers placed bags over the men’s heads, tied their hands and assaulted them before forcing them down the stairs.
The alleged assault occurred on September 11 after the men were accused of breaking a mirror.
Witnesses said officers repeatedly demanded to know the whereabouts of a mobile phone during the confrontation.
The two men were subsequently taken from the hotel and transferred to a police facility in Malabo.
Their lawyers say they have been unable to communicate with them since their detention.
Amnesty International said it believes the two men were targeted in retaliation for raising concerns about alleged violence and conditions at the detention facility.
The allegations come amid growing concerns over conditions at Hotel Bamy, which has effectively been converted into a detention centre for people deported from the United States.
Detainees have reportedly complained about inadequate medical care, poor living conditions and restrictions on access to lawyers.
Earlier in September, Reuters reported that Equatorial Guinean police had pointed firearms at deportees during a confrontation at the hotel.
Video footage reviewed by Reuters showed an armed police officer pointing a firearm at a migrant during the confrontation.
The latest allegations have placed renewed attention on the Trump administration’s third-country deportation policy.
Under such arrangements, migrants can be removed from the United States to countries other than their countries of nationality.
In the cases of Soliman and Birhane, lawyers say U.S. immigration authorities had previously determined that returning them to their countries of origin could expose them to persecution or torture.
Soliman had lived in the United States from childhood, while Birhane had also spent decades in the country before being deported.
Their cases have therefore raised questions about what legal protections remain available to migrants once they are transferred to a third country.
Human rights organisations have expressed concern that deportees could ultimately be sent from Equatorial Guinea to countries where they had previously been judged to face serious risks.
The United States government has defended third-country deportations as part of its efforts to remove people it says have no legal right to remain in the country.
But the treatment allegedly experienced by Soliman and Birhane has placed the policy under renewed human rights scrutiny.
Equatorial Guinea has also faced longstanding international criticism over allegations of arbitrary detention, torture and other human rights abuses.
The alleged violence at Hotel Bamy has consequently raised questions about the safeguards surrounding Washington’s agreements with countries accepting deportees.
For the migrants still being held at the hotel, the reported assault has deepened fears about their own safety.
The central issue now extends beyond deportation itself.
It concerns what happens to people after they are removed from U.S. custody and transferred to a country where they may have no citizenship, family network, employment rights or established legal status.
The cases of Soliman and Birhane have therefore become a test of how third-country deportation arrangements operate in practice—and whether the protections promised to deportees are actually being enforced.
As lawyers and rights organisations press for access to the detained men, international attention is increasingly focused on Hotel Bamy and the treatment of those sent there from the United States.
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