'Looks Like Retaliation': A Judge Orders Trump Deported Gay Man Returned From Africa Immediately

A federal judge in Arizona has ordered the Trump administration to return Ahmed Soliman, a gay man deported to Equatorial Guinea, to the United States, according to The American Prospect. US District Judge John Hinderaker ruled that the Department of Homeland Security had violated Soliman's due process rights.

Soliman, 30, is a native of Egypt who was raised in Phoenix and had lived in the United States since the age of four. Before his deportation to Central Africa, an immigration judge had granted him protection against removal to Egypt because he faced torture or persecution there, the Arizona Daily Star reported.

Judge Intervenes In Deported Gay Man's Detention

Soliman had no ties to Equatorial Guinea, where he reportedly faced torture and abuse by authorities at the Hotel Bamy in Malabo. His treatment became part of the account considered by Hinderaker, who noted that US officials had not disputed the reports.

'It is unrebutted that he has since been held under armed guard; threatened at gunpoint; and arrested, beaten, and held incommunicado by Equatorial Guinean authorities,' Hinderaker wrote of Soliman's detention.

The quoted passage describes allegations that remained unrebutted before the judge. It attributes the detention and violence to Equatorial Guinean authorities, while the due process finding concerns the US department responsible for sending Soliman there.

The American Prospect reported that Hinderaker ordered DHS to facilitate both his release and his return to the United States. The direction also covered how officials should handle his immigration case after the improper deportation.

Deported Gay Man's Arrest Raises Retaliation Concerns

Reuters published a video of police at the hotel pointing rifles at Soliman as he knelt on the ground. A plainclothes officer shouted, 'Shoot him.'

After Soliman spoke to reporters about police abuse at the hotel, authorities seized his phone and arrested him. His attorneys reported that he was being held at an unknown location.

Kate O'Donnell, a US attorney for Soliman, questioned the circumstances of the arrest in comments to The American Prospect.

'From the information we have, it looks like retaliation. It's unclear what laws, if any, he's actually broken,' she told the publication.

O'Donnell's assessment linked the arrest to Soliman's contact with reporters, but her wording left the authorities' motive uncertain. Her statement also expressed uncertainty about whether he had broken any law.

Reports of conditions at the Hotel Bamy have extended beyond Soliman's case. The Guardian and The New York Times have covered allegations of torture and beatings of detainees by armed guards at the hotel.

The US Case Behind The Deported Gay Man's Return

The account of Hinderaker's order records that Soliman was admitted to the United States as the child of religious workers and became a lawful permanent resident.

He was arrested on assault and drug charges in 2023. Removal proceedings began in January 2024, before an immigration judge granted protection against deportation to Egypt, according to the Arizona Daily Star.

That protection concerned Egypt, the country of his birth. The deportation challenged in Hinderaker's ruling instead sent him to Equatorial Guinea, a country to which he had no ties.

According to The American Prospect, DHS must handle Soliman's case as it would have done had he not been improperly deported.