Pope visiting prison in spotlight after US migrant deportations

Pope Leo XIV, flanked by Equatorial Guinea’s President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo is welcomed upon his arrival at Malabo International Airport [AP Photo]

Pope Leo XIV is visiting one of Equatorial Guinea’s notorious prisons yesterday, drawing attention to human rights abuses denounced by campaigners, particularly after the U.S. began deporting third-country migrants to the Central African country.

Leo’s visit to the prison in the port city of Bata continues the tradition of Pope Francis, who made such visits a priority of his pontificate. Francis’ aim was to give prisoners hope and to remind them the church was with them, while also shining a spotlight on judicial abuses, overcrowding and other injustices.

The visit marks the final full day of a marathon 11-day, four-nation tour that took the pope from Algeria in the north to Angola in the south, via Cameroon.

Leo opened his day with a Mass in Mongomo, an eastern city on the border with Gabon that has experienced major development since Equatorial Guinea’s oil boom in the 1990s. President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo comes from Mongomo and the city, with opulent buildings and curated gardens behind gild-tipped gates, has benefited from government investment and infrastructure even though no official institutions are located here.

Thousands of cheering people poured into the grand entryway to Mongomo’s Basilica of the Immaculate Conception, a monumental church consecrated in 2011 and modeled on St. Peter’s Basilica, to welcome Leo as he arrived in his covered popemobile.

Leo greeted them and blessed the cornerstone of a future cathedral to be built in the country’s new capital, Ciudad de la Paz, or City of Peace.

Later, Leo travelled to Bata, the country’s most populous city, for the prison visit. He will also pray at a memorial to victims of a 2021 explosion in the city’s military barracks that has been blamed on negligence.

Judicial abuses documented

The U.N. human rights office in 2022 welcomed the abolition of the death penalty in Equatorial Guinea, but its prisons and justice system overall have been repeatedly faulted by the U.N. and condemned by human rights groups and the U.S. State Department.

In its 2023 report on the country, the U.S. listed a host of abuses, including arbitrary or unlawful killings and arrests, political detentions, torture, life-threatening prison conditions and “serious problems” with the independence of the judiciary.

“Amnesty International has serious concerns about the human rights situation in Equatorial Guinea,” said Marta Colomer Aguilera, senior campaigner at Amnesty’s West and Central Africa office.

She said torture had been used to extract confessions or to punish, human rights defenders are harassed, and the lack of judicial independence compromised the right to a fair trial.

Obiang has been in power in Equatorial Guinea since 1979 and is accused of widespread corruption and authoritarianism.

Equatorial Guinea is also one of several African nations that have been paid millions of dollars in controversial deals with the Trump administration to receive migrants deported from the U.S. to countries other than their own.

Reporting by The Associated Press shows that at least 29 such migrants with no ties to the country have been deported here. They were not sent to the prison in Bata. Some remain in detention in Malabo with restrictions on legal and medical support, while others have been forcibly returned to their countries where they face persecution.

The government has denied rights abuses and hasn’t commented when asked to respond to questions about abuses involving the U.S. migration deportation deal.

Leo has criticized the Trump administration’s overall migration deportation policy as “extremely disrespectful.”

‘Very troubling disregard for human life’

On the eve of his prison visit, 70 human rights organizations published an open letter to Leo, urging him to speak out especially about U.S. deportation of migrants here and encourage African nations to not be complicit in the practice.

“These practices circumvent humanitarian protections, expose refugees to detention and coercion, and subject individuals to refoulement, in direct contravention of international law,” they wrote, referring to the legal concept that prohibits countries from sending people to places where their lives or freedoms are at risk.

“The conditions under which these deportations have been carried out have also reflected a very troubling disregard for human life and safety. We call for the intercession of Pope Leo XIV to discourage African countries from being complicit in these violations and instead to protect these individuals,” the groups said.

In the run-up to Leo’s arrival, the government released nearly 100 people who had been arrested in a 2022 crackdown on street violence, according to a local lawyer, who requested anonymity given the country’s human rights record.

The lawyer termed the releases one “positive outcome” of the visit, though he noted that the government still hasn’t taken action on releasing politicians such as Gabriel Nsé Obiang, who has been in jail since 2022 preelection unrest, or activists including Anacleto Micha or Joaquin Elo Ayeto. NICOLE WINFIELD, MONGOMO, MDT/AP