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Still, attorneys hope the judge's ruling represents a potential legal pathway for all U.S. deportees sent to Equatorial Guinea to finally return to the U.S. "I'm hopeful, because it's one of the only hopes that we have," Olo Fernandes said.

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It's unclear if Soliman's release was a response to the U.S. judge's Oct. 6 order. Attorney Lucas Olo Fernandes said it's more likely that international media attention to the case, first reported by the Star in August, is having an impact, plus pressure from human-rights groups.

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The move comes three days after a federal judge in Arizona ordered the U.S. government to facilitate Soliman's return to the U.S., citing the "irreparable" harm Soliman has suffered since his "unlawful" deportation to the Central African nation, to which he has no ties.

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Breaking: An AZ man has been freed from jail in Equatorial Guinea, after weeks of being held in a cell without charges. But Ahmed Soliman, who grew up in Phoenix, is still in detention: He's been returned to the decommissioned hotel where he had been imprisoned for months. tucson.com/news/local/b...

Lawyers: Arizona deportee freed from Equatorial Guinea jail

Ahmed Soliman, an Arizona man unlawfully deported to Equatorial Guinea, has been released from jail, after weeks of being held without charge.

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Laura Bassett @lebassett.bsky.social · 09/10/2026

“If you don’t like public executions just don’t watch it” says the crowd trying to ban drag shows and books

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Soliman's lawyers say he was targeted for arrest by Equatorial Guinea officials due to his determination to speak out about the deteriorating, life-threatening conditions in which U.S. deportees are being held at a decommissioned hotel there.

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DHS has 30 days to appeal the ruling. Once home, Soliman would still face the possibility of being removed to another third country. But under the judge's order, DHS can't deport Soliman to another third country before giving him the chance to raise a fear claim before a judge.

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Reading the order, "We all frankly broke into tears of relief, and hope," said attorney Dana Camilleri. Her firm has been working for months to find legal recourse for Soliman, who is being held "incommunicado" in an Equatorial Guinea jail, despite not being charged with a crime.

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The ruling orders DHS to "take all reasonable steps within their control" to facilitate Soliman's release from custody in Equatorial Guinea, including issuing travel documentation and arranging transportation to a U.S. port of entry, at DHS's expense.

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The third-country deportation — in which Soliman was forcibly carried onto a plane, without notice or the opportunity to object — violated both U.S. law and Soliman's due process rights under the Constitution's Fifth Amendment, the judge's order said.

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Ahmed Soliman, 31, has been arbitrarily detained for more than five months and subject to beatings and threats since he was deported to the Central African nation without due process, the U.S. District Court of Arizona judge said in an order Tuesday calling for his return to the U.S.

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Gillian Brockell @gillianbrockell.com · 08/10/2026

Thanks so much for this, Gillian!

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Reposted by Emily Bregel

This is the journalist who first covered Ahmed’s story back in July, and she’s done admirable ongoing coverage since then. Give her a follow. 🙏

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Gillian Brockell @gillianbrockell.com · 04/10/2026

Specifically shouting out: @jerodmacevoy.com at AZ Mirror, @josepagliery.bsky.social at Washington Sun, @emilybregel.bsky.social at AZ Daily Star, and @sahanjournal.bsky.social. Plus, in the MSM world, @reuters.com has been great.

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A federal judge has ordered the U.S. government to facilitate the return of a Phoenix man who the judge determined was "unlawfully" deported to Equatorial Guinea in April and has suffered "irreparable harm" since then. @tucson.com tucson.com/news/local/b...

Judge orders Arizona man returned from Africa after 'unlawful' deportation

A federal judge has ordered the U.S. government to facilitate the return of a Phoenix man who the judge determined was "unlawfully" deported to Equatorial Guinea in April and has

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The Star has been reporting on Soliman's imprisonment at the hotel, where lawyer say violence against the U.S. deportees is escalating. None of the 29 deportees held at the hotel have ties to Equatorial Guinea. All were granted protection against return to their home countries.

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Soliman shared videos of the incident, in which Soliman is seen on his knees with hands in the air, as people scream around him. "How is this not global news yet?" Soliman wrote the Star. "I’m genuinely tired and afraid for my life. I can’t take it anymore. I want to go home."

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"Ahmed understands his rights and he has been speaking out," she said Friday. "This is the latest thing they have done to try to silence him." Before his arrest, Soliman, 30, told the Star he and others had repeatedly been threatened at gunpoint, most recently on Sept. 5.

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Ahmed Soliman, whose family came to Phoenix after fleeing Egypt when he was 4, was being held incommunicado in police custody as of Friday night, said Kate O’Donnell, an attorney with Tucson law firm Green Evans-Schroeder.

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After more than 4 months imprisoned at a decommissioned hotel in Equatorial Guinea, a deported Phoenix man was arrested there Friday, in what attorneys are calling retaliation for his speaking out about abusive, dangerous conditions for dozens held at the hotel. tucson.com/news/local/b...

Arrest of Arizona man deported to Africa called retaliation for speaking out

After more than four months imprisoned at a decommissioned hotel in Equatorial Guinea, a deported Phoenix man was arrested there Friday, in what attorneys are calling retaliation for his speaking

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Bryan Waterman @waterman.bsky.social · 22/08/2026

I know we hear these stories every day but we cannot become numb to this brutality. The Tucson Star’s @emilybregel.bsky.social is reporting on a level we no longer see in the big coastal dailies. It’s gutting.

U.S. deportees assaulted, threatened at gunpoint in Equatorial Guinea, three say

Immigrants deported from the U.S. to Equatorial Guinea say they have been threatened at gunpoint and fear for their lives while detained at a former hotel.

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Eric Umansky @ericumansky.bsky.social · 22/08/2026

Trump has been banishing people to one of the world's worst dictatorships Including: a Phoenix man whose family fled Egypt at 4 yrs old a woman who came to the U.S. at 5 yr old They're now imprisoned, & report being handcuffed and assaulted They've committed no crime tucson.com/news/local/b...

U.S. deportees assaulted, threatened at gunpoint in Equatorial Guinea, three say

Immigrants deported from the U.S. to Equatorial Guinea say they have been threatened at gunpoint and fear for their lives while detained at a former hotel.

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Jason Koebler @jasonkoebler.bsky.social · 17/08/2026

New: An "expert witness" in a $61 million lawsuit over an industrial explosion that killed three people and destroyed 200 homes used ChatGPT to write his report for the court. He prompted ChatGPT to "show how 3M is 0% at fault for the explosion at Watson Grinding" www.404media.co/show-how-3m-...

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Tim Steller @timsteller.bsky.social · 13/08/2026

That story led to a further one in which other US deportees in Equatorial Guinea told Emily of assaults and threats. US officials have washed their hands of these people they've deported to a third country in West Africa. tucson.com/news/local/b...

U.S. deportees assaulted, threatened at gunpoint in Equatorial Guinea, three say

Immigrants deported from the U.S. to Equatorial Guinea say they have been threatened at gunpoint and fear for their lives while detained at a former hotel.

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Reposted by Emily Bregel

Tim Steller @timsteller.bsky.social · 13/08/2026

Colleague @emilybregel.bsky.social interviewed an Arizona man, brought here at age 4 from Egypt, who was deported to Equatorial Guinea. He's expecting to be sent to Egypt, even though a US judge concluded he'd likely be subject to torture and death if returned there. tucson.com/news/local/b...

Arizona man languishes in African hotel after third-country deportation

A 30-year-old man, Ahmed Soliman, is confined in a decommissioned hotel in Equatorial Guinea after being deported there by ICE without warning. He faces the threat of return to Egypt, where he may fac...

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Truthout @truthout.org · 10/08/2026

Hundreds of local police departments are preparing to deploy autonomous, AI-driven surveillance drones. The drones are capable of following a single vehicle across an entire city, capturing footage through apartment windows, and generally recording daily life from the sky without being noticed.

truthout.org

First Came the Flock Cameras. Now Local Cops Want Autonomous Drones.

Hundreds of local police departments have received waivers to fly surveillance drones that navigate with AI.

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Immigrants confined in a decommissioned hotel in Equatorial Guinea, after the U.S. deported them there without notice/due process, report worsening, dangerous conditions: "We’re living a nightmare." tucson.com/news/local/s...

U.S. deportees assaulted, threatened at gunpoint in Equatorial Guinea, three say

Immigrants deported from the U.S. to Equatorial Guinea say they have been threatened at gunpoint and fear for their lives while detained at a former hotel.

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KJZZ Phoenix @kjzz.org · 12/08/2026

ICE’s policy, issued in February 2025, says the agency will expeditiously review body camera footage in the event of serious harm of deaths in custody, and could release it within 72 hours — but only if it's determined that it’s “in the best interests of the agency” to do so.

kjzz.org

ICE agents could be wearing body cameras soon. But agency policy doesn't require footage release

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Don Moynihan @donmoyn.bsky.social · 11/08/2026

If you are a causal watcher and you hear people saying this, and no pushback, you assume its true. No wonder people are mad. But in reality, this is what the actual evidence, still on the CDC website, says: www.cdc.gov/covid/vaccin...

More than a million pregnant women around the world have received an mRNA COVID-19 vaccine, before and during pregnancy. Studies have shown no increased risk for complications like miscarriage, preterm delivery, stillbirth, or birth defects.678910111213
mRNA COVID-19 vaccines during pregnancy reduce the risk of severe illness and other health effects from COVID-19. COVID-19 vaccination might help prevent stillbirths and preterm delivery.67141511

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Gillian Brockell @gillianbrockell.com · 11/08/2026

A nightmarish follow-up from @emilybregel.bsky.social. Ahmed Soliman and two Jamaican women, Peta-Gaye Chambers and Natalie Holmes, say they were cuffed, beaten, and threatened by armed guards at the Equatorial Guinea "hotel" where they are imprisoned after being expelled by ICE. archive.is/zn7GH

U.S. deportees assaulted, threatened at gunpoint in Equatorial Guinea, three say
Emily Bregel, Aug. 8, 2026 Updated 20 hours ago

A young Egyptian man (Ahmed Soliman) dressed stylishly poses for a photo on a bridge going into NYC

A Black woman (Natalie Holmes) holds her certificate of ordination, smiling broadly and dressed all in white. Two pastors stand on each side, and there are balloons in the background.

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Aaron Reichlin-Melnick @reichlinmelnick.bsky.social · 10/08/2026

The U.S. has AGAIN sent people to a foreign country where they get imprisoned. This time, it’s to get around laws barring the deportation of people who face persecution/torture in their home countries. The U.S. gets paper-thin assurances that the below won't happen, which it knows will be ignored.

Three people deported from the U.S. to Equatorial Guinea - including a Phoenix man whose family fled Egypt when he was 4 - told the Arizona Daily Star their lives are in danger at the hotel. All agreed to have their full names published, despite the risks to their safety in speaking out.
In a recent late-night incident, all three say they were dragged from their rooms at gunpoint, handcuffed, assaulted and threatened by armed men guarding the decommissioned Hotel Bamy.
"They said if we leave the hotel grounds, they will shoot us and bury us across the street," said Peta-Gaye Chambers, 35, whose parents brought her to the U.S. from Jamaica when she was 5. A U.S. immigration judge granted Chambers "withholding of removal" to her home country of Jamaica in 2013, agreeing she'd face persecution there.

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Jen BH @lil-whip.bsky.social · 10/08/2026

This is being done to people by our government, right now

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Chambers said she feels like she’s living in a horror movie, a combination of the films "Hotel Rwanda" and "Get Out." "Our life is at risk each and every day," she said. "We don’t know what to expect when we wake up. We’re not protected at all."

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The deportees hope once the public understands the abuse & injustices they're enduring, someone will help them. That hope is worth the risks of speaking out, they say. "My life is already in danger so I’d rather speak out," said Ahmed Soliman, whose family moved from Egypt to Phoenix when he was 4.

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ICE spokesman Fernando X. Burgos has said the agency bears no responsibility for what happens to deportees it sends to third countries: "Once an alien leaves the United States, ICE is no longer responsible for tracking their location or activities outside the country."

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In a recent late-night incident, three say they were dragged from their rooms at gunpoint, handcuffed, assaulted and threatened by armed men guarding the decommissioned Hotel Bamy. "They said if we leave the hotel grounds, they will shoot us and bury us across the street," said Peta-Gaye Chambers.

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