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JUBA: South Sudan said Saturday it repatriated to Mexico a man deported from the United States in July.
The man, a Mexican identified as Jesus Munoz-Gutierrez, was among a group of eight who have been in government custody in the east African country since their deportation from the US
Another deportee, a South Sudanese national, has since been freed while six others remain in custody.
Munoz-Gutierrez’s repatriation to Mexico was carried out by South Sudan’s foreign ministry in concert with the Mexican Embassy in neighboring Ethiopia, the South Sudanese foreign ministry said in a statement.
The repatriation was carried out “in full accordance with relevant international law, bilateral agreements, and established diplomatic protocols,” it said.
In comments to journalists in Juba, the South Sudan capital, Munoz-Gutierrez said he “felt kidnapped” when the US sent him to South Sudan.
“I was not planning to come to South Sudan, but while I was here they treated me well,” he said. “I finished my time in the United States, and they were supposed to return me to Mexico. Instead, they wrongfully sent me to South Sudan.”
The US Department of Homeland Security has said that Munoz-Gutierrez had a conviction for second-degree murder and was sentenced to life in prison.
South Sudan is engaging other countries about repatriating the six deportees still in custody, said Apuk Ayuel Mayen, a spokeswoman for the foreign ministry.
It is not clear if the deportees have access to legal representation.
Rights groups have argued that the Trump administration’s increasing practice of deporting migrants to third countries violates international law and the basic rights of migrants.
The deportations have faced opposition by courts in the US, though the Supreme Court in June allowed the government to restart swift removals of migrants to countries other than their homelands.
Other African nations receiving deportees from the US include Uganda, Eswatini and Rwanda. Eswatini, in southern Africa, received five men with criminal backgrounds in July. Rwanda announced the arrival of a group of seven deportees in mid-August.

LONDON: Thousands of pro-Palestine demonstrators held a rally in Belfast, Northern Ireland on Saturday to protest against businesses that have ties to Israel, .

Protesters marched through the city center, stopping and chanting outside Starbucks, Barclays, insurance company Axa and Leonardo Hotels. The companies are accused of complicity in a genocide against Palestinians in Gaza as a result of having extensive business ties with Israel.

At the end of the march, outside the BBC Northern Ireland offices, the demonstrators called on the public to boycott Israeli products, including those from pharmaceutical giant Teva, from Sept. 18.

Meanwhile, protests were also held across Ireland, including in the capital, Dublin, and Cork, Galway, Limerick, Waterford, Carlow and Navan.

In Dublin rallygoers marched from the US Embassy to the Department of Foreign Affairs.

The protests were organized by the Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign, which has led efforts to boycott Israeli products in the country.

Rossa Coyle of the IPSC, speaking in Belfast, urged the public to boycott Caterpillar, the equipment manufacturer that has provided the Israeli military with excavators used in Gaza and the occupied West Bank, and Teva.

“Ask your GPs, ask your pharmacist to mark your records ‘no Teva products,’” she said.

Organizers hope to popularize a three-day boycott of Israeli goods from Sept. 18.

Patricia McKeown of Trade Union Friends of Palestine said that pro-Palestine groups across Ireland were redoubling their efforts.

“Trade Union Friends of Palestine across Ireland and the Irish Congress of Trade Unions have been in emergency meetings with BDS (advocacy group Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions), with its European coordinators, to look at what call for action we are making to intensify what is already being done on the ground,” she said.

“There are workers across the island refusing to handle Israeli products, goods and services.

“Starting on Sept. 18, from that day onward, we want workers to refuse to handle any Israeli goods or services they are engaged with in whatever type of place they work in.

“That might be the public service and the civil service, that might be the health service, that might be education, that is definitely industry, that is definitely retail.

“We are pledging to stand by those workers as they take action by their refusal.”

Dr. Ashraf Habouharb, a Palestinian living in Belfast, addressed the rally in the city and praised the protesters.

“I’m extremely delighted to see you in this big number and large crowd coming today, raising your voice and declaring that enough is enough,” he said.

“This has been the largest crowd for many, many, many weeks and you are responding to what’s happening.

“What else needs to happen for the international community and world leaders, especially the Western leaders, to make an action to do something trying to stop this genocide?”