Omar Abdulsattar Ameen, an Iraq national who is wanted in his country for terror and murder charges, becomes the first person to be deported to Rwanda by the United States.
President Donald Trump is dispatching the suspected Terrorist to East Africa, with a price tag of USD 100,000, to the host country, a move which raises security concern in the already troubled region.
Observers warn that, once in Kigali, it will be easy for the ‘Wanted’ Iraqi criminal to travel or even move into other neighboring countries such as Kenya and Tanzania.
Ameen fled Iraq after the government issued a warrant of arrest against him for killing a police officer and for being a member of the ‘Islamic States of Iraq and Syria’ (ISIS) Jihadist Military group.
Omar Abdulsattar Ameen quietly entered the United States, where he was granted refugee status.
However, the Jihadist has maintained his innocence, stating that by the time the offences he is being accused of were committed, he had already relocated to Turkey with his family before moving to the US.
The Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) citing evidence from eight witnesses and documents from the Iraq government would later claim that they had enough evidence that Ameen was a member of Al-Qaeda and ISIS, and was also involved in the murder of an Iraqi police officer.
Based on this evidence, Trump’s first government tried to deport him to Iraq, but Federal Judge Edmund F. Brennan ruled that the Justice Department’s case was ‘dubious,’ with ‘unreliable,’ witnesses and ordered his release.
However, he was rearrested immediately after President Joe Biden came to power and placed in custody for deportation on grounds that he failed to disclose to the U.S authorities his links to terrorist organizations.
Calls for his release by his lawyers bore no fruit.
This year Trump’s second government was able to outskirt the judge’s ruling that barred his deportation to Iraq, by sending the suspect to Rwanda in April 2025.
According to a secret cable from the American Embassy in Kigali to the U.S State Department, just before Ameen’s arrival in the country, Rwanda requested for ‘a one-time payment of USD 100,000 to support social services, residency documents, and work permits.’
The cable further states, “Rwanda also agreed to accept another ten ‘Third Country Nationals’ known simply as TCNs of various nationalities.”
“Rwanda’s primary motivation for accepting Mr. Amen and subsequently the Third Country Nationals (TCN) is to improve the country’s relations with the U.S. and show it can advance the America First agenda,” the cable from the US embassy reads.