A US judge has ordered the return of Ahmed Soliman, the Egyptian deported to Equatorial Guinea, in a ruling that could shake up Washington’s controversial third-country deportation deals.
Who is Ahmed Soliman?
Soliman is 30 and grew up in Phoenix, Arizona, after his family moved from Egypt when he was four. In October 2025, an immigration judge granted him protection from removal to Egypt under the UN Convention Against Torture. Yet in April, US immigration officials put him on a flight to Equatorial Guinea. His lawyers say he was not given proper notice of the destination or a chance to raise a fear claim about it.
Life in Malabo
The Egyptian immigrant, Soliman, was held with other deportees at a former hotel in Malabo. Earlier this month he described police pulling guns on migrants during a confrontation, and videos of the incident circulated internationally. Days later he was arrested. His lawyers say he was held incommunicado at a gendarmerie station and unable to see them for a week.
Amnesty International believes police targeted him and another deportee, Eritrean national Samson Birhane, in reprisal for reporting threats meant to pressure them into returning to their home countries.
Why Africans should pay attention
Equatorial Guinea is one of at least nine African nations to sign deals to accept migrants who cannot legally be sent home. More than 40 people have reportedly been deported there. A coalition of rights groups has already filed a complaint with the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights, alleging that some deportees were forcibly sent on to countries where they face persecution.
Washington defends the arrangements as lawful. Critics see them as a way of outsourcing expulsions to governments with weak human rights records, in Africa’s case often in exchange for diplomatic or financial favours.
The court order matters because it tests whether US judges will hold officials to the protections they themselves granted. For African governments, it is a reminder that signing these deals carries legal and reputational risk. For Egyptian migrants, it is a rare sign that the courts may still listen.
Read More
Seoul Meets the Nile: Why South Korea and Egypt’s New Bond Matters Across Africa
Buried With the King: Skulls Reveal the Grim Price of Egypt’s First Pharaohs
Africa’s Capital Opportunity: Key Takeaways from the 2026 Egypt Business Summit
Salah Sits Out Egypt’s Trip to South Sudan Over Pitch Concerns
