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IOL News
5 days ago
- Politics
- IOL News
Outrage erupts over U. S. deportation of violent criminals to eSwatini
The government has denied the involvement of King Mswati in the deportation of hardened criminals from the U.S. to South Africa's neighbour. Image: Supplied/Eswatini Government U.S. President Donald Trump's administration's decision to send five dangerous hardened criminals to eSwatini (formerly Swaziland) has sparked outrage in the neighbouring country and fears that they may end up in South Africa. The Trump administration announced over a week ago that it would be sending the men who are illegal immigrants from Vietnam, Jamaica, Laos, Yemen and Cuba convicted of child rape, murder, burglary, and being gang members and whose countries refuse to take them back. This week, the eSwatini Women's Movement has raised concerns about whether the five individuals informed of their removal and given access to consular support from their home countries as this is a fundamental right of anyone detained or deported across international borders. It demanded to know who within the eSwatini government authorised the acceptance of these individuals and the legal basis and if they were detained in line with a valid detention warrant or a certificate of detention as prescribed by the Immigration Act. Video Player is loading. Play Video Play Unmute Current Time 0:00 / Duration -:- Loaded : 0% Stream Type LIVE Seek to live, currently behind live LIVE Remaining Time - 0:00 This is a modal window. Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window. Text Color White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent Window Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Transparent Semi-Transparent Opaque Font Size 50% 75% 100% 125% 150% 175% 200% 300% 400% Text Edge Style None Raised Depressed Uniform Dropshadow Font Family Proportional Sans-Serif Monospace Sans-Serif Proportional Serif Monospace Serif Casual Script Small Caps Reset restore all settings to the default values Done Close Modal Dialog End of dialog window. Advertisement Next Stay Close ✕ "If there is no such legal basis, under what authority are they currently being held? Any alternative basis for detention may contravene the Correctional Services Act No. 13 of 2017 and risks undermining the rule of law in eSwatini," the movement said. In addition, it wants to know how much has been paid to the government of eSwatini to support the stay of the five deported individuals and the plan after the conclusion of their sentences. The Swaziland Solidarity Network (SSN), which mobilises exiled emaSwati, has urged the country's citizens at home and in the diaspora to fight what it described as a shameful arrangement. The SSN said emaSwati must organise, mobilise and protest against the decision and make it clear to their government that their country is not for sale nor is it an American prison. According to the network, the U.S. homeland security department has stated that the convicted criminals must be removed so that they can never hurt another American victim, which by implication means they must now hurt emaSwati. "This is a deliberate act of collusion by two corrupt governments to dump America's most violent criminals in one of the world's poorest nations. And the (King) Mswati-led Tinkhundla (eSwatini local government administrative division) regime quietly agreed without consulting the nation or informing its own rubberstamp Parliament," the SSN said. It called on emaSwati to demand answers on whether this is a paid-for deal or a political favour, the terms and conditions. "This is an act of betrayal and is proof once again that the Tinkhundla regime does not prioritise the safety and wellbeing of the Swazi people. It has not only auctioned off national sovereignty but it has turned Swaziland into a dumping ground for foreign governments looking to offload hardened criminals," the network complained. Other organisations – the Swaziland Litigation Centre, the Swaziland Rural Women's Assembly and the Southern Africa Litigation Centre – said in a 2024 report on human rights practices in eSwatini, the U.S. noted that prisons were overcrowded, constituting inhumane treatment and that there were reports of torture. They are demanding that the eSwatini government commit to not accepting inmates from third countries. "The eSwatini Commission on Human Rights and Public Administration and international bodies, as official visitors under section 122 of the Correctional Services Act, visit the individuals to establish the facts surrounding their detention and their detention conditions. "The international bodies should include the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights, which is currently conducting an official visit in eSwatini, and the International Committee of the Red Cross in Pretoria," the organisations demanded. Additionally, they want the government to clarify the legal and factual basis on which the five individuals were accepted into eSwatini and for their countries' consulates urgently arrange for consular services to ensure that they obtain legal representation. The eSwatini government has denied King Mswati's involvement in the prisoners' deportation while the Department of Home Affairs in South Africa did not respond to questions on Saturday.
Daily Maverick
21-07-2025
- Politics
- Daily Maverick
Civil society groups threaten court action over US deportations of criminals to Eswatini
The NGOs called on the Eswatini government to clarify the legal and factual basis on which the five individuals were accepted into Eswatini and to commit to not accepting inmates from third countries. Civil society groups in Eswatini and South Africa have threatened legal action against the Swazi government for accepting five hardened third-country criminals from the US. And Eswatini's Prime Minister Russell Dlamini has said his country is open to receiving more deportees if requested to do so by the US and if Eswatini has the capacity. The Swaziland Litigation Centre, the Swaziland Rural Women's Assembly and the Southern Africa Litigation Centre based in Johannesburg have issued a statement in which they threatened legal action if the Eswatini government did not back off from the deportee deal with the US. The US Department of Homeland Security spokesperson, Tricia McLaughlin, said last week that the deportees, from Cuba, Jamaica, Laos, Vietnam and Yemen, had criminal records which included convictions for murder, homicide and child rape. They were 'so uniquely barbaric that their home countries refused to take them back', she added. The Eswatini government confirmed that the men had arrived and had been detained. It claimed they presented no threat to Swazi people. But the three civil society organisations said the arrival of the men raised many questions — especially in a country where correctional centres were overcrowded, the government was grappling with a range of crises, including a shortage of essential medicines, 'and where there have been consistent calls for a democratic, open and transparent government'. They asked whether the convicts had been sent to Eswatini to serve out the remainder of their prison sentences or whether these sentences had already been served, and they left the US under removal orders. They questioned whether the men had been informed that they were going to be removed to Eswatini, and whether they had access to consular services from their countries, an automatic right of every person detained in a foreign country. 'Who in Eswatini authorised the country's acceptance of these individuals, and on what legal basis did they do so? Are they detained under a detention warrant or a certificate of detention as per the Immigration Act? Any other basis of detention would be contrary to the Correctional Services Act No. 13 of 2017.' The NGOs asked whether the convicts would remain in Eswatini until the end of their sentences, and if not, how long they would remain in the country. 'What we do know points to the illegality of the detention in Eswatini and the unlawfulness of their removal from the United States,' the three NGOs said, because Swazi law only allowed for two scenarios for the detention of convicts. One was the transfer of a Swazi citizen convicted in a foreign state to serve their sentence in Eswatini. The second was the transfer of a foreign citizen convicted by a Swazi court to serve their sentence in their own country. They noted that Swazi law stipulated that a citizen of Eswatini must consent voluntarily and in writing to be transferred from a foreign country to serve their sentence in Eswatini. They said Eswatini's Immigration Act deemed any person convicted of murder in any country an undesirable immigrant. The government could grant such a person a temporary stay in exceptional circumstances, but there had been no indication of how long they would be detained in Eswatini. They noted that the Eswatini government had claimed the convicts would be returned to their countries of origin — yet the US had said it was sending them to Eswatini because their countries of origin did not want them back. Degrading treatment The NGOs said the law required that 'someone who is to be removed to a third country should be given notice and opportunity to claim that such removal could expose them to torture or cruel, inhumane or degrading treatment. 'Removing people who had already served their sentences to be detained in a third country would amount to cruel, inhumane and degrading punishment and a violation of their right to due process. From a purely practical angle, it is unlikely that the individuals were able to exercise their due process rights given the haste with which they were sent to Eswatini. 'The United States has domesticated the Convention Against Torture, which means that they cannot send them to a country where people might be tortured. In the United States' 2024 report on Human Rights Practices in Eswatini, it noted the prisons were overcrowded, constituting inhumane treatment, and that there were reports of torture in prisons.' The NGOs called on the Eswatini government to clarify the legal and factual basis on which the five individuals were accepted into Eswatini and to commit to not accepting inmates from third countries. They called on the consulates of the countries where the five individuals are citizens to urgently arrange for consular services to ensure that they obtain legal representation. They called on the Eswatini Commission on Human Rights and Public Administration, the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights, the International Committee of the Red Cross in Pretoria and other relevant international bodies to visit the five individuals to establish the facts surrounding their detention and their detention conditions. Eswatini's acting government spokesperson, Thabile Mdluli, told Daily Maverick, 'We are not aware of the threats to block the transfer of deportees, but only about safety concerns, which we have adequately addressed.' Responding to speculation in Eswatini that Prime Minister Dlamini had announced that his country would be receiving more deportees from the US, Mdluli said: 'He didn't say we would be receiving more, but the question was whether Eswatini would accept more deportees if the US were to advance a similar request in future, to which the PM said we would be open to receiving more, depending on capacity.' Mdluli also denied speculation in Eswatini that the US had paid Eswatini $5.1-million to accept deportees. 'No, we are not paid anything by the US. The US government, however, caters for the welfare of the deportees, including repatriation costs.' DM
