Three men deported by the United States to Eswatini – rather than their home countries – have filed a case against the Eswatini government with the African Union human rights body, alleging their detention was an illegal violation of their rights.
Two of the plaintiffs, from Cuba and Yemen, have been in prison for eight months in Eswatini, formerly Swaziland. The third, Orville Etoria, was repatriated to his home country of Jamaica in September.
They were among a group of five men deported by the United States in July, and another 10 sent in October. Apart from Etoria, all remained in prison in Eswatini, their lawyers said. The United States has labeled the men dangerous criminals, but their lawyers said they have already served their sentences for any crimes committed in the United States.
The men’s complaint was filed with the African Commission on Human and People’s Rights (ACHPR), an African Union body that monitors member states’ compliance with regional human rights agreements. The commission can require states to defend rights and refer cases to the African court on human and people’s rights, but neither body has enforcement powers.
Beatrice Njeri, a lawyer with the Global Strategic Litigation Council, one of the organizations that brought the case on behalf of the deportees, said: “The detainees have not committed any crime (in Eswatini) and continue to suffer various human rights violations… They are being held indefinitely.”
Njeri said the men had not yet been allowed to see their lawyers in person. He said one detainee had gone on a 30-day hunger strike late last year, causing signs of organ failure. “They are totally frustrated with the situation,” he said. “They just want to return: some to home, others to the United States.”
Thabile Mdluli, a spokesman for the Eswatini government, said he had not seen the legal complaint.
The United States has deported dozens of immigrants to third countries, while Donald Trump’s administration attempts to carry out mass deportations. The United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has detained more than 68,000 people in the United States.
Other African countries that have accepted third-country deportees from the United States include Ghana, Rwanda, South Sudan and Uganda. The United States agreed to pay Eswatini $5.1 million to host up to 160 third-country nationals, according to Reuters.
In February, Eswatini’s high court dismissed a case by local NGOs that had argued that the government’s imprisonment of deportees was unconstitutional. The court ruled that the plaintiffs had no right to bring the legal challenge as they had no direct interest in the matter.
