SOUTH SUDAN: END FOUR DEPORTEES’ ARBITRARY DETENTION

Dear Ambassador Monday Semaya Kumba,

I am writing to express deep concern for Jose Manuel Rodriguez-Quinones, Kyaw Mya, Thongxay Nilakout, and Tuan Thanh Phan who were deported on July 4 as part of the United States government’s mass deportation campaign and have since been arbitrarily detained in South Sudan without legal justification or clarity regarding their legal status.

After weeks of not having had any access to their clients, all individuals’ U.S.-based legal representatives have only accessed their clients through monitored and limited phone calls. Their lawyer in Juba has not been able to access and communicate with them. The South Sudanese authorities have not provided any official communication on the exact whereabouts of the four men. However, Amnesty International has received credible reports that they are in the custody of the National Security Service (NSS) but has not independently verified the whereabouts of the men. The NSS’s constitutional mandate does not include arrest and detention.

I urgently call on you to immediately disclose the whereabouts of Jose Manuel Rodriguez-Quinones, Kyaw Mya, Thongxay Nilakout, and Tuan Thanh Phan, 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 the men are not forcibly sent to their countries of origin or any other country if they are at real risk of persecution or serious human rights violations.

Yours sincerely,

[YOUR NAME]