3 men deported by US are being held in an African prison without charge, lawyers say

Cape Town, South Africa – Their lawyers said on Tuesday that three men who were deported by the United States to Aswini in July were detained in the Aqsa Security Prison in the African nation for seven weeks without charge and without access to the legal advisor despite the completion of criminal rulings in the United States.

The New York -based Legal Assistance Association said that it represents one of the men, Wooria National Jamaican, and that it was “incomprehensible” had been sent to my insights when his homeland was ready to accept it.

Itoria has been the first of at least 20 phases that the United States sent to various African countries in the past two months that are publicly determined. Deportations are part of the Trump administration’s third secret program program to eliminate immigration.

The 62 -year -old Iteoria said that IToria was convicted of a serious crime in the United States in 1997 and was released from prison in 2021.

The Legal Assistance Association said that the US government falsely claimed that Jamaica refused to accept it. As for the internal security, when announcing the deportation of a total of five men to Aswini in mid -July, they claimed that they were “so unique barbarians that their countries of origin refused to restore them.”

Internal security said at the time that men were dangerous criminals from Jamaica, Cuba, Laos, Vietnam and Yemen, but they did not make them named by the name.

A lawyer representing the other two men, from Laos and Vietnam, said on Tuesday that his clients had served their criminal sanctions in the United States and “were released in society.”

“After that, without warning and interpretation from the governments of the United States or Aswini, they were arbitrarily arrested and sent to a country that was never on it,” the lawyer, Tin Thana Ngwin, said in a statement. He said that the United States government was “coordinating secret transportation operations in the third country without any meaningful legal process, which leads to an unspecified detention.”

Internal security said that these two men were convicted of charges, including rape of children and second degree killing.

A third lawyer, Alma David, said that she represented two men from Yemen and a Cuba who was also held in Aswini and was deprived of accessing lawyers. She said that she had been told by the head of Aswini’s prison that it was only the American embassy that could grant access to men.

“Since when has the American embassy in the jurisdiction of the national prisons in Aswini enjoyed?” She said in a statement, adding that the men have not been informed about the reason for their detention, and a lawyer was not allowed to visit them.

David said that all five were detained in the main security prison in Aswini indefinitely at the expense of American taxpayers.

Since July, the Trump administration has sought the deportation program in the third country and sent migrants to at least three African countries: South Sudan, Swatini and Rwanda, and it has a deal in principle with a fourth African country, Uganda.

Although no deportation to Uganda has not been announced, the United States said it wanted to deport the Garcia Apostle there. His case was a flashing point in US President Donald Trump’s campaign.

The deportation deals that the United States struck were largely secret.

The authorities in South Sudan provided few information about the place that is sent there in early July or what their fate may be. The American authorities also described it as dangerous criminals from South Sudan, Cuba, Laos, Mexico, Myanmar and Vietnam.

The five men in Aswini are held in the Matsava Reform Complex. It is the same imprisonment in which Aswini was imprisoned, which King rules as the last absolute ownership of Africa, who is active in support of democracy. The authorities said when the five men arrived at Aswini that they would be held in solitary confinement.

The Rwandan authorities said seven migrants were deported by the United States to Rwanda in mid -August. They did not say where they were detained or provided any information about their identities.

The deportations to Rwanda were secret at the time and were not announced until last week.