Lawyers say Equatorial Guinea police beat two U.S.-deported men

Lawyers and rights groups said police arrested Ahmed Soliman, an Egyptian national, and Samson Birhane, an Eritrean national, after accusing them of breaking a mirror. [1][2]

The lawyers said officers covered the men’s heads with bags, beat them and held them at gunpoint. They said police later brought the men back to the detention hotel and beat them in front of other detainees. [1][2]

The men had initially been held with more than 40 people deported from the United States to Equatorial Guinea. Their detention site was a hotel on the outskirts of Malabo that had been converted into a prison-like facility. [1][2][3]

Lawyers said authorities took Soliman and Birhane to La Luna police station and that they had been unable to contact them since. Both men had lived in the United States for decades before deportation. [1][3]

The reports describe the arrangement as a $7.5 million agreement under which U.S. deportees were sent to Equatorial Guinea. Lawyers said 12 people had nevertheless been returned to their countries of origin, including four Ethiopians earlier that month. [1][2]