US deports Iranian pro-democracy activist to Central African Republic: Lawyer

Highlights

• Central African Republic is taking third-country deportees
• Advocacy group says Iranian at risk of being forced home
• Number, nationalities of migrants on first flight unclear

The US has deported an Iranian pro-democracy activist to Central African Republic, her lawyer said on Friday, describing it as a "super dangerous" transfer to a country with which the activist has no connection.

The Iranian American Legal Defense Fund (IALDF) said on Thursday that three Iranian women who fled persecution were at risk of deportation, including one who had converted to Christianity.

In the end, only the activist was on the flight which took off from Louisiana on Thursday night, said her lawyer, Emily Trostle, while not ruling out that the others could potentially be deported later.

The plane landed in Bangui, the capital of Central African Republic, shortly before 10 pm local time (2100 GMT), after a stop in Ghana's capital Accra, according to the ICE Flight Monitor managed by Human Rights First.

It was not immediately clear where the deportees would be housed or how long they would be able to stay in Central African Republic.

"They have absolutely no connection to this place. In all of my filings I submitted tons of information about how this was super dangerous," Trostle told Reuters.

"These individuals are being removed from the United States and abandoned in a country where they have no status, no connection and no support network. We fear they will ultimately be forced to return to the countries they originally fled," Trostle said.

The US State Department and Central African Republic's presidency did not immediately respond to requests for comment about the deportations to Central African Republic. The US Department of Homeland Security said last week that all deportees would receive full due process.

Ghana and Central African Republic have signed deals with President Donald Trump's administration to take in third-country deportees who in many cases secured legal protections from US courts so that they could not be repatriated.

The United States has used the deals — including with Central African Republic's neighbour Democratic Republic of Congo, which is facing an Ebola outbreak — to deport people it cannot legally send home.

The Trump administration has said the deals are lawful. Rights groups and advocates have said that the details of the deals are opaque and many of the deportees are ultimately repatriated.

Risk of repatriation

The IALDF said the Iranians facing deportation had their asylum claims denied because of a rule requiring that asylum seekers first apply in countries they transit through before reaching the US. A federal court in California vacated that rule in May.

The group said deporting Iranians to Central African Republic was "a potentially fatal action," citing security issues in the country and the risk that they would be sent back to Iran.

President Faustin-Archange Touadera signed peace deals last year with several rebel groups. Others were weakened as Russian mercenaries and troops from Rwanda were deployed to shore up Touadera's government as well as UN peacekeepers.

Ali Rahnama, interim executive director at the IALDF, said the Russian presence in Central African Republic was concerning because Russia had close intelligence ties with Iran.

The US and Israel launched strikes on Iran on 28 February, starting a now three-month-old war.

Trump said in April that he thought that the Iranian people should rise up against the government in Tehran if a ceasefire were declared, but understood that it was too dangerous for them to do so.

It was unclear how many people would be deported to Central African Republic on the first flight.

An official briefed on the matter told Reuters on Thursday it was expected to transport about 20 people, including Syrians and Afghans. The official said hundreds of migrants could ultimately be deported there under the deal.