Ahmed Soliman, an Egyptian man deported from the United States to Equatorial Guinea, was taken into custody in Malabo on September 11, according to his lawyer and a coalition of human-rights organizations. Reuters reported that his location and condition had not been publicly confirmed.
The coalition said police searched rooms at the Hotel Bamy and arrested Soliman and one other person. It said lawyers had lost reliable contact with people held at the hotel after mobile phones were confiscated, leaving the two arrested men effectively incommunicado.
Reuters previously reported allegations that police pointed firearms at U.S.-deported detainees during an earlier confrontation. Equatorial Guinea’s government and embassy did not respond to Reuters requests for comment. The U.S. government has defended third-country removals as lawful, while rights groups have challenged the policy and conditions facing deportees.
Soliman’s advocates say he fears persecution because of his sexual orientation, which is relevant to the risks they describe. The available reports do not establish that his arrest was motivated by his sexual orientation, and they do not establish a new Department of Homeland Security policy beyond the deportation practices already reported.
