Eswatini Court Grants Deported Men Lawyer Access

Eswatini's Supreme Court ruled on Thursday that four men deported from the United States to the southern African kingdom last July have the right to meet in person with a local lawyer, ending a nine-month denial of access while they were held in a maximum-security prison.

The men, nationals of Cambodia, Cuba, Vietnam and Yemen, arrived in Eswatini as part of the U.S. government's third-country deportation program under the Trump administration. They were sent to the Matsapha Correctional Centre outside the capital, Mbabane, despite having no ties to the country. U.S. authorities described them as dangerous criminals who had served prison sentences for offenses committed in the United States and faced deportation orders. Their lawyers argued that the ongoing detention in Eswatini was unlawful, as the men had not been charged with any crimes there.

The ruling came after Eswatini's correctional services blocked visits from human rights lawyer Sibusiso Nhlabatsi, who was acting on behalf of the men's U.S.-based attorneys. While phone calls to American lawyers were permitted, in-person meetings with Nhlabatsi were refused. A lower court had earlier granted access, but the government...