A coalition of human rights lawyers and non-governmental organizations has filed a lawsuit against the Eswatini government, accusing it of violating the constitution by secretly accepting five deportees from the United States.
The plaintiffs argue that the deal with former US President Donald Trump’s administration, which allowed Washington to transfer third-country deportees to Eswatini, bypassed parliament and denied citizens their right to due process.
The five men, from Vietnam, Jamaica, Laos, Yemen, and Cuba, were flown into Eswatini in July. US officials have branded them “dangerous criminals.” They are currently being held in solitary confinement at Matsapha Maximum Security Prison, which activists note is already operating at 190% over capacity.
Lawyers say no one has been granted access to the detainees since their arrival, fueling public anger in the kingdom, which remains under the absolute rule of King Mswati III.
The monarch earlier downplayed the matter, insisting the men posed no threat and that the arrangement was “based on good relations with Washington.”
The High Court was due to hear the case on Friday but postponed it until September 25, citing the government’s failure to file its response papers. Attorney General Sifiso Mashampu told Reuters that the challenge was baseless and described it as “a frivolous legal application.”
The Trump administration had championed third-country deportations as part of a wider effort to remove millions of undocumented immigrants from the United States.
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