Amnesty International, 11 March 2026 reported the arrival in Eswatini of four more men transferred from the United States, following earlier groups. ICET has not independently verified these cases; what follows is Amnesty’s reporting, attributed.
What Amnesty reports
- Four men arrived on 11 March 2026: two Somali nationals, one Tanzanian national and one Sudanese national.
- They followed five men transferred in July 2025 and ten in October 2025.
- The men are held at Matsapha Correctional Complex, a maximum-security prison.
- None had known ties to Eswatini.
- The arrangement rests on a memorandum of understanding of 14 May 2025 under which Eswatini agreed to accept up to 160 third-country nationals in exchange for $5.1 million.
Vongai Chikwanda, Amnesty International’s Deputy Regional Director for East and Southern Africa, is quoted as saying that “no one should be removed to a country where they face a real risk of unlawful detention”. Amnesty characterises the detention as arbitrary.
Human Rights Watch, 23 September 2025 separately documented the Eswatini arrangement alongside similar agreements with other states, reporting a capacity figure of up to 160 people and the same $5.1 million figure.
Access to legal advice
Amnesty International, April 2026 reported on a ruling of the Eswatini Supreme Court concerning legal access for the transferred men, which Amnesty described as offering limited relief. Amnesty International, July 2026 reported on a fourth removal operation.
Why detention on arrival is a distinct legal question
Where a person is held in a correctional facility without charge, without an order of a court in the receiving state and without access to counsel, the receiving state’s own obligations are engaged. Those include Article 9 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and, where the state is a party, the Convention Against Torture. This is separate from any question about the lawfulness of the transfer itself.
It is also the point at which torture-prevention machinery becomes directly relevant. A facility holding transferred people is a place of detention like any other, and in a State Party to OPCAT it falls within the visiting mandate of the National Preventive Mechanism. ICET’s training and technical assistance work is directed at exactly this: equipping the bodies that already have the right of access to use it.
For the legal framework, see our explainer on removal to a third country. Our resource directory lists the organisations working on these cases.
This article is published for educational purposes and is not legal advice. The law described here changed several times between 2025 and 2026. Anyone facing removal, or advising someone who is, should consult a qualified immigration lawyer. See also our explainer on removal to a third country.