According to witnesses and human rights lawyers, two men from Egypt and Eritrea were tied up, had bags placed over their heads, were beaten, and forced down stairs while other US deportees looked on. The event happened at the Hotel Bamy, a run-down building outside Malabo, Equatorial Guinea, which has operated as a holding facility for US deportees.
Two men from North Africa were held together after an attack: Ahmed Soliman, 31, from Egypt, and Samson Birhane, 47, from Eritrea. Both were put into a cell afterward. The beating took place on 11 September, coming after a Reuters video surfaced showing hotel conditions alongside guard violence.
Who Is Being Held at Hotel Bamy
About 30 detainees from the US remain trapped at the hotel after being deported from the US. Detainees believe the men were beaten for speaking to the press and human rights advocates about hotel conditions and violence.
A rundown hotel has operated as a holding facility for US deportees. At least 66 individuals from various African nations, Cuba and Brazil have been sent to Equatorial Guinea through a deportation initiative run by the US.
The country of Equatorial Guinea has taken in $7.5m as payment for agreeing to work with the United States’ system for sending people back to their home countries.
The Deportation Program Behind the Hotel
One country the Trump administration has sought to send immigrants it cannot deport directly to their home countries, where judges have found they would face torture or persecution, is Equatorial Guinea. Deals with other nations have been struck for this purpose.
A man from Egypt named Soliman lived in Phoenix for most of his life with a green card. But he lost that legal standing after a drug conviction. In October, a judge decided that Soliman would be persecuted and tortured if forced back to Egypt because of his sexuality.
The woman known as Birhane arrived in the United States as a refugee when she was just 13. She lost her legal standing in the country after being convicted for taking part in a robbery during her high school years, which happened in 1988. She had been keeping up with ICE requirements by reporting in as directed.
The Reuters Video and Its Aftermath
The Reuters video shows officials with guns pointed at people being sent back across the border, and it was the release of a Cuban man’s request for his confiscated phone was ignored. The video’ that seems to have set off the beating on 11 September.
In a separate video, officials forcibly sent US deportees to Ethiopia, where they are likely to face torture. Equatorial Guinea has returned at least 12 people to their home country, where they face persecution.
In May, UN human rights experts issued a rare public call for Equatorial Guinea to stop its plans to return deportees and follow international human rights standards.
Life at the Hotel
Those held at Hotel Bamy report being watched over by armed guards 24/7, and they say they have received no medical care or new clothing since their arrival.
A man held at Hotel Bamy is suffering from a severe stomach hernia and has not been able to see a doctor since his arrival there. Others being held have managed to get HIV, diabetes and other medications through human rights lawyers, though they now fear that access will be taken away from them.
Since the beating, police have ransacked other detainees’ rooms looking for cellphones and taken them away. The lawyers representing the remaining deportees have been kept from meeting with them.
The Aftermath of the Beating
Authorities have told the 29 US deportees still at Hotel Bamy they may never see Soliman or Birhane again. Witnesses said authorities treat the detainees as if they are “blanks” who “don’t even exist.”
An officer reportedly told a person held in custody: “You will disappear from the earth. I am the law.”
A repeated pattern of abuse marked the hotel’s treatment of detainees, with beatings forming part of it. Those held there suspect the attacks were intended to stop people from talking to the press or human rights advocates.
“This is a human rights catastrophe,” said Bella Mosselmans, director of the Global Strategic Litigation Council, representing several Hotel Bamy deportees.
Hotel Bamy’s crisis has not been settled yet. The beatings there amount to a disaster for human rights.
Where the paper stands
The paper backs neither side in this specific case, but it stands ready to defend anyone who finds themselves under the authority of a government that has grown too strong, too distant, and too willing to treat human beings as though they were anything less than free citizens entitled to protection under the law. The story describes a hotel operating as a holding facility for US deportees, where guards have beaten two men, threatened others, and kept lawyers away — all while Equatorial Guinea takes money for the arrangement. That is a government acting beyond its proper bounds, and the paper opposes such concentration of power wherever it occurs.
What makes this a matter of principle is the sheer distance between the people involved and those making the decisions. A hotel in Equatorial Guinea, staffed by guards, acting under a program run by the US, is far removed from the citizens whose lives it controls. That distance breeds abuse, and the paper’s position is that power should not gather in one place like this, whether in government offices or in agreements between governments.
The reader should watch for any agreement between governments that treats human beings as mere pawns, especially when money changes hands. When the law becomes a tool for punishment rather than protection, the paper will stand with the punished, whoever they are.
See the video the story is built around at The Guardian.
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