José Manuel Rodríguez-Quiñones, Thongxay Nilakout, Kyaw Mya and Tuan Thanh Phan were deported from the US as part of the United States government’s mass deportation campaign in May 2025. They were initially held in a US military base in Djibouti before arriving in Juba, South Sudan’s capital, on 4 July 2025. For ten months they have been arbitrarily detained in an undisclosed location. Amnesty International calls on the South Sudanese authorities to immediately disclose the whereabouts of the four men, grant them unmonitored and unfettered access to their legal representatives, including local counsel, and immediately clarify the legal grounds of their detention. The South Sudanese authorities must also 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. If a fair and efficient assessment of protection needs has taken place and the principle of non-refoulement is not breached, the states of the men’s countries of origin must expedite their repatriation.
