US deportee arrested in Equatorial Guinea, lawyer says

Ahmed Soliman, an Egyptian national deported from the United States to Equatorial Guinea earlier this year, has been arrested and taken to an unknown location, his US lawyer Kate O'Donnell told AFP on Friday.

O'Donnell said Soliman was arrested on Friday morning, apparently over an allegation of "breaking a mirror", but that the exact charges were unclear. She said the arrest appeared to be retaliation for Soliman knowing his rights and talking to journalists.

Soliman had legal protections to live in the United States and had spoken to AFP last month about alleged abuses against deportees held at a hotel in Equatorial Guinea. He described police officers bursting into his room and dragging him outside with guns drawn. Local authorities did not comment on that incident at the time.

O'Donnell said Soliman's exact location was unknown and that local lawyers in Malabo were searching for him in jails. Equatorial Guinea's national security minister did not respond to AFP's request for comment.

Equatorial Guinea has become a transit point in US President Donald Trump's immigration crackdown, under which people the United States cannot legally send to their home countries are sent to third countries. Washington has expelled scores of people, mostly Africans, to Equatorial Guinea since November. Some remain at the hotel, while many others have been sent onward to home countries or other states.

Soliman had lived in the United States since he was three years old.