Ahmed Soliman, a gay man in his early 30s who fled Egypt as a child and grew up in Phoenix and Tucson, had won a judge's ruling protecting him from deportation to Egypt over fears of persecution based on his sexuality and family history. Despite this ruling and a pending habeas petition, ICE transferred him to Louisiana and deported him in April 2026 to a decommissioned hotel in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea, under a $7.5 million third-country removal deal that has sent at least 66 people there since November 2025. Guards confiscated detainees' phones, and police pointed rifles at Soliman and forced him to his knees when he tried to film the forced removal of other detainees to Ethiopia. Amnesty International reported he was bound and beaten by police upon arrival, and after he spoke to journalists about conditions at the facility, he was arrested on property-damage accusations, blindfolded, beaten, and pushed down a staircase before being transferred to a prison in Malabo. He and another detainee from Eritrea went missing for more than a week, with attorneys unable to confirm charges or his location and fearing retaliation for his media interviews. A federal judge later ruled his deportation unlawful and ordered the U.S. government to facilitate his return.