CAPE TOWN: A Cuban man deported by the United States to the African nation of Eswatini is on a hunger strike at a maximum-security prison after being held for over three months without charge or legal counsel under the Trump administration’s third-country deportation program, his US-based lawyer said Wednesday.

Roberto Mosquera del Peral was among five men sent to the small kingdom in southern Africa in mid-July as part of the expanding US deportation program to Africa.

This program has been criticized by rights groups and lawyers who argue that deportees are denied due process and exposed to rights abuses.

Mosquera’s lawyer, Alma David, stated that he had been on a hunger strike for a week, expressing serious concerns over his health.

'My client is arbitrarily detained, and now his life is at risk,' David said.

She urged the Eswatini Correctional Services to provide an update on Mosquera's condition and ensure adequate medical attention.

David also demanded that Mosquera be allowed to meet with a lawyer in Eswatini.

An Eswatini government spokesperson referred the AP, which requested comment, to a correctional services official who did not immediately respond to calls and messages.

Mosquera was part of a group of five men from Cuba, Jamaica, Laos, Vietnam, and Yemen deported to Eswatini.

The Jamaican man was repatriated to his home country last month, but the others remained at the prison for over three months.

An Eswatini-based lawyer has initiated a case demanding they be granted access to legal counsel.

Civic groups in Eswatini have also taken authorities to court to challenge the holding of foreign nationals in prison without charge.

Eswatini stated that the men would be repatriated but did not specify a timeframe for further repatriations.

US authorities aim to deport Kilmar Abrego Garcia to Eswatini under the same program.

The Department of Homeland Security claimed that the men sent to Eswatini were criminals convicted of serious offenses, including murder and rape, and were in the US illegally.

Mosquera had been convicted of murder and other charges and was described as a gang member.

According to his lawyers, all the men had completed their criminal sentences in the US and are now being held without any charge in Eswatini, where they have not been accused of any offense.

The Department of Homeland Security has portrayed the third-country deportation program as a means to remove 'illegal aliens' from American soil as part of President Donald Trump's immigration crackdown.

They stated that deportees have the choice to self-deport or be sent to countries like Eswatini.

The US has sent deportees to at least three other African nations — South Sudan, Rwanda, and Ghana — since July under largely secretive agreements.

The administration also has a deportation agreement with Uganda, though no deportations there have been announced.

New York-based Human Rights Watch stated that documents it reviewed show the US is paying millions of dollars to African countries for accepting deportees.

It was revealed that the US agreed to pay Eswatini $5.1 million and Rwanda $7.5 million to accept up to 160 and 250 deportees, respectively.

Another ten deportees were sent to Eswatini this month and are believed to be held at Matsapha Correctional Complex prison outside Mbabane.

Lawyers stated that the men from Vietnam, Cambodia, the Philippines, Cuba, Chad, Ethiopia, and Congo have not been allowed to meet with an Eswatini lawyer representing them or their US-based attorneys, whose phone calls are monitored by prison guards.

David stressed that these actions highlight the necessity for releasing the 14 men.

She called on both the United States and Eswatini governments to accept responsibility for the human consequences of their agreement.