Two men that the Trump administration expelled to Equatorial Guinea were bound, fitted with bags over their heads, beaten and pushed down a flight of stairs, all in plain view of other US deportees, according to witnesses and human rights lawyers.
uncertain
administration → expel → witnesses
The men – one from Egypt and one from Eritrea – were then taken to a prison.
asserted
men → take → prison
About 30 detainees from the US remain trapped at a hotel in the outskirts of the coastal city of Malabo after being deported from the US.
asserted
detainees → remain → US
Detainees have said they believe the men were beaten for telling the press and human rights advocates about the poor conditions and violence inside the hotel, and that they are haunted by flashbacks and terrified they will be retaliated against next.
asserted
they → say → flashbacks
Human rights advocates and experts have warned for months that conditions at the Hotel Bamy – a run-down establishment that has served as a detention center for US deportees – are dangerous.
asserted
that → warn → deportees
The US has sent at least 66 people from different African countries, Cuba and Brazil to Equatorial Guinea, which has received $7.5m as part of a deal to cooperate with the US deportation program.
asserted
which → send → program
The Trump administration has pursued dozens of similar deals with countries to take in immigrants that the US cannot deport directly to their home countries, where judges have deemed they would face torture or persecution.
asserted
they → pursue → torture
In the past, the US government allowed those people to live and work in the US indefinitely.
asserted
people → allow → US
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.
asserted
they → seek → limbo
Advocates have been especially concerned for deportees sent to Equatorial Guinea, where the authoritarian government is notorious for human rights abuses, including torture, according to the US state department.
uncertain
government → send → department
Detainees held at Hotel Bamy have told the Guardian that armed guards keep watch over them 24/7, and that they have not been provided any medical care or even fresh clothes since arriving there.
asserted
they → hold → care
One of the detainees, who has a severe stomach hernia that requires visits to the hospital to drain his stomach due excessive fluid build-up, said he has been unable to see a doctor since arriving at Hotel Bamy.
asserted
he → have → Bamy
Other detainees have managed to obtain medication for HIV, diabetes and other conditions via human rights lawyers, but remain fearful that access to medications will be arbitrarily cut off.
asserted
access → manage → medications
The two men who were tortured – Ahmed Soliman, 31, of Egypt, and Samson Birhane, 47, of Eritrea – have since been transferred to a prison in Malabo.
asserted
who → torture → Malabo
Multiple witnesses recounted that the police officers shouted, “Where is the phone? Where is the phone!” as they beat the men, who had initially been accused of breaking a mirror at the hotel before they were pulled aside and arrested.
asserted
they → recount → hotel
The beating, which occurred on 11 September, followed the release of a video first reported by Reuters showing conditions at the hotel and the violent behavior of the guards.
asserted
which → occur → guards
The detainees had been using cellphones to communicate with lawyers and the media about the conditions they were facing.
asserted
they → use → conditions
In the video taken by Soliman, which lawyers shared with the Guardian, authorities are seen pointing guns at the deportees.
asserted
authorities → take → deportees
A Cuban man asked the officer for the return of his confiscated mobile phone so he could contact relatives and a lawyer, but was ignored.
uncertain
he → ask → relatives
When officers noticed Soliman filming the exchange with his mobile phone, multiple officers rushed at him and others standing nearby, pointed their guns, and told Soliman to remain on his knees with his hands up for 10-15 minutes.
asserted
officers → notice → minutes
In another video, Soliman was able to film authorities forcibly sending US deportees to Ethiopia, where they are likely to face torture.
asserted
they → film → torture
When deportees resisted going with authorities, officials gave them the option to “go back to their home country” or “go to prison”.
asserted
officials → resist → prison
At least 12 people have been returned by Equatorial Guinea to their home country, where they face persecution.
asserted
they → return → persecution
In May, human rights experts at the United Nations issued a rare public appeal asking Equatorial Guinea to halt plans to return deportees to their home countries and to comply with international human rights standards and avoid refoulement, or the expulsion of people to countries where they face persecution.
uncertain
they → issue → persecution
“This is a human rights catastrophe,” said Bella Mosselmans, director of the Global Strategic Litigation Council, who represents several of the deportees at Hotel Bamy.
asserted
who → say → Bamy
The US and Equatorial Guinea “must be held accountable for the atrocities they are committing”, she added.
asserted
she → hold → atrocities
In the week since Soliman and Birhane were beaten, police have also been searching the other detainees’ hotel rooms for cellphones, and have confiscated them.
asserted
police → beat → them
They have also barred lawyers from seeing the deportees.
asserted
They → bar → deportees
Authorities have told the 29 US deportees who remain at Hotel Bamy that they may never see Soliman or Birhane again, according to lawyers.
uncertain
they → tell → lawyers
One detainee who witnessed the beating said authorities treat them as if they are “blanks” who “don’t even exist”.
asserted
who → witness → them
Another detainee said an officer told her: “You will disappear from the earth.
asserted
You → say → earth
Witnesses said they feared for the lives of Soliman and Birhane, who came to the US as children.
asserted
who → say → children
Soliman is a gay man from Egypt who had lived in Phoenix for most of his life.
asserted
who → live → life
He had a green card, but lost status after he was convicted of drug possession.
asserted
he → have → possession
He served time for his crimes, and in October, a judge had determined he would face persecution and torture if he were to return to Egypt due to his sexuality.
asserted
he → serve → sexuality
Birhane had come to the US as a refugee when he was 13, but lost status after a conviction for robbery when he was in high school, in 1988.
asserted
he → come → 1988
He was allowed to remain in the US after a judge ruled he faced torture in Eritrea, and had been regularly checking in with Immigration and Customs Enforcement as required.
asserted
he → allow → Enforcement
Lawyers for the deportees shared copies of multiple emails they had sent to the US embassy in Equatorial Guinea alerting them to threats and violence against those detained at Hotel Bamy, but those messages have gone unanswered, they said.
asserted
they → share → Bamy
In July, amid a lawsuit challenging conditions for deportees, the African Commission issued an urgent interim order instructing the government of Equatorial Guinea to refrain from deporting, transferring, or relocating deportees against their will.
asserted
Commission → challenge → will
The US Department of Homeland Security did not respond to the Guardian’s request for comment.
asserted
Department → respond → comment
…and 3 more, not listed.
The Aporia
