Two men recently deported to Equatorial Guinea by the United States faced significant abuse at a hotel functioning as a detention center for immigrants, according to witnesses and lawyers involved in the case. The men, Ahmed Soliman and Samson Birhane, were reportedly hooded, bound, beaten with guns, and shoved down stairs by police officers at the Hotel Bamy near Malabo, where about 29 deportees from various countries are being held indefinitely.
The incident, which took place on September 11, followed a surge in police aggression after deportees shared videos and messages documenting harsh conditions within the hotel. These included a lack of running water, inadequate food, minimal medical care, and frequent harassment by armed police officers, some of whom were described as intoxicated during interactions with detainees. Police officers also conducted room searches seeking to confiscate cellphones, which deportees used to communicate with lawyers and journalists.
Soliman, originally from Egypt, and Birhane, from Eritrea, were arrested after official claims that the detention stemmed from a broken mirror in the hotel’s elevator. However, lawyers contend the arrests were retaliation for their efforts to expose mistreatment. Following their arrest, the men were held in a local jail for two days under reportedly harsh conditions, including denial of food and severe bruising, before being returned to detention. Both men had previously been granted protection from deportation to their home countries by U.S. courts due to the risk of torture or persecution.
The Hotel Bamy operates as an unofficial prison, though none of the detainees face formal charges under Equatorial Guinea’s law. Their indefinite detention results from a complex agreement in which Equatorial Guinea has agreed to accept deportees without granting them legal status or the ability to live or work in the country. Human rights advocates highlight the risk this poses given Equatorial Guinea’s documented record of human rights violations, including torture, arbitrary arrests, and enforced disappearances.
The U.S. government has defended the deportations under a “safe third country” policy, arguing in court filings that it cannot control how foreign governments treat individuals after their removal. Equatorial Guinea issued diplomatic assurances it would not mistreat detainees, though complaints from the deportees and lawyers suggest otherwise. Efforts to reach representatives from Equatorial Guinea’s government, including through its embassies in London and Washington, went unanswered. Correspondence from lawyers requesting intervention from the U.S. Embassy in Malabo, including communications with Ambassador David Gilmour, reportedly have not received responses.
Prior to their deportations, both Soliman and Birhane had long ties to the United States. Soliman had held a green card despite a prison sentence in 2023, and Birhane had arrived as a refugee at age 13 and lived in the U.S. for decades. Both were deemed ineligible to return safely to their countries due to documented risks of persecution. Yet, their cases were reconsidered by the Trump administration, which sought third countries to accept individuals who could not be deported directly to their home nations.
United Nations experts have appealed to the government of Equatorial Guinea for access to medical care and improved living conditions at the hotel. Meanwhile, reports from deportees indicate that the hotel was recently used to quarantine a suspected Ebola patient, further complicating conditions. Human rights groups and advocates continue to express concern over the fate of those held at the hotel and the legality and ethics of the U.S. deportation agreements with authoritarian regimes.