In a significant ruling, Eswatini’s supreme court has declared that four men, deported from the United States to the southern African nation, have the right to meet with a local lawyer. These men, from Cambodia, Cuba, Vietnam, and Yemen, have been detained without in-person legal counsel for nine months in a maximum security prison.
The men were transferred to Eswatini in July, a move that was part of former President Donald Trump’s administration’s intensified deportation efforts. Despite having no ties to Eswatini, they were labeled as dangerous criminals by the US government, even though their legal representatives argued that they had already served sentences for crimes committed in the United States.
The Eswatini correctional services initially denied the men access to a local lawyer, while allowing them to communicate with their US — based legal teams over the phone. However, the court rejected the government’s claim that the inmates had shown no interest in meeting human rights lawyer Sibusiso Magnificent Nhlabatsi, stating that it would be up to the detainees to express any disinterest directly.
Out of the first group of five deportees, one was repatriated to Jamaica in September, and another was sent back to Cambodia in March. A further four individuals arrived in Eswatini in October, with one returning to Cambodia in March.
Alma David, a US lawyer representing several of the men, criticized the lengthy legal battle required to secure basic rights. “The fact that it took nearly nine months of litigation to obtain something as innocuous as permission for my clients to meet with a local lawyer speaks volumes about how hard the Eswatini government is fighting to deny these men the most basic of rights, “she.
Thabile Mdluli, the Eswatini government spokesperson, had previously stated that the government had made every reasonable effort to ensure the deportees were accommodated in conditions that respected their rights and dignity. However, the recent ruling underscores ongoing concerns regarding the treatment of these deportees.
Human rights lawyers and NGOs have criticized the deportations as a form of human trafficking, while the US Department of Homeland Security dismissed such allegations as “insane, “claiming the Trump administration was fulfilling its promise of the largest deportation operation in history.
Source: The guardian
Original author: Rachel Savage in Johannesburg
