SOUTH SUDAN: DEPORTEE RELEASED, OTHERS STILL DETAINED

Dear Ambassador Cecilia Adut Manyok,

I am concerned about the ongoing arbitrary detention of José Manuel Rodríguez-Quiñones, Kyaw Mya, and Thongxay Nilakout, who were deported as part of the United States government’s mass deportation campaign in May 2025, transiting through a U.S. military base in Djibouti, and have been arbitrarily detained in South Sudan since their arrival on July 4, 2025.

Whilst I welcome the release on June 19 of Tuan Thanh Phan, who was also part of the same May 2025 deportation campaign and who originates from Viet Nam, I am concerned about the well-being of the men who remain arbitrarily detained by the South Sudanese authorities without legal justification or clarity regarding their legal status. All individuals’ U.S.-based legal representatives have only accessed their clients through monitored phone calls every few months. Their lawyer in Juba, South Sudan’s capital, has not been able to access or communicate with them at all. The South Sudanese authorities have failed to disclose their whereabouts. Two other deportees, Enrique Arias Hierro and Nyo Myint, have also been arbitrarily held for over a year as part of the same scheme.

I call on you to immediately disclose the whereabouts of José Manuel Rodríguez-Quiñones, Kyaw Mya, and Thongxay Nilakout as well as Enrique Arias Hierro and Nyo Myint, grant them unmonitored and full access to their legal representatives, including local counsel, and immediately clarify the legal grounds of their detention. I further urge you to ensure that individuals’ wishes for a durable solution are facilitated including through access to UNHCR, IOM, and the national human rights commission and other relevant bodies, and if, following a full and fair assessment, there is no breach of the principle of non-refoulement, we urge the states of the men’s countries of origin to expedite their repatriation.

Yours sincerely,

[YOUR NAME]