Five men who the US said were dangerous criminals were flown to the small southern African country in July
A court case challenging Eswatini’s acceptance of five people deported by the US has been postponed until September, after the attorney general failed to show up in court on Friday, according to one of the NGOs that brought the case.
The men from Vietnam, Jamaica, Laos, Yemen and Cuba, who the US said were dangerous criminals, were flown to the small southern African country in July, as the administration of Donald Trump bids to deport millions of immigrants and asylum seekers.
The men’s imprisonment, at the maximum security Matsapha correctional centre, caused outrage in Eswatini, formerly Swaziland, whose king, Africa’s last absolute monarch, appoints the prime minister and cabinet.
A group of NGOs and activists filed a legal challenge last week, arguing that the deal, whose terms have been kept private by the government, was unconstitutional. In legal papers, they said the deportations violated due process and that the prison where the deportees are being held is 190% over capacity.
