Egypt begins mass deportations of Eritreans - Amnesty
13 Jun 2008 11:53:22 GMT Source: Reuters
By Cynthia Johnston CAIRO, June 13 (Reuters) - Egypt has deported 400 Eritrean asylum seekers back to Asmara and plans to forcibly return 1,200 more who are being held in detention in Egypt, putting them at serious risk of torture, Amnesty International said on Friday. The London-based human rights group said a first batch of 200 asylum seekers was flown back to Eritrea on Wednesday on a special Egyptair flight after being denied access for months to representatives from the United Nations refugee agency, UNHCR. Another 200 were flown to the Horn of Africa nation on Thursday night, and more flights appeared to have been scheduled to deport the remaining Eritreans, Amnesty said. "Most asylum seekers returned to Eritrea are likely to be arbitrarily detained incommunicado in inhumane conditions from weeks to years ... They will be at serious risk of torture or other ill-treatment," Amnesty said. "The asylum seekers knew they were being deported and started to beg the security forces not to deport them, and even threatened to kill themselves," Amnesty activist Mohamed Lotfy said, adding that women and children were among those deported. UNHCR said Egypt had cut off its access to detained Eritrean migrants in February, leaving it unable to assess any asylum claims. UNHCR was also unable to confirm any had been deported. But UNHCR said it was concerned for the fate of up to 1,600 mainly Eritrean migrants it believed were being held who had been caught slipping into the country either by land from Sudan or directly from Eritrea via the Red Sea. "We remain seriously concerned about the situation, again, because the group includes women and children, said Abeer Etefa, a spokeswoman for UNHCR in Cairo. "Our office continues to request access." Deportation of Eritreans is in direct contradiction to U.N. guidance that advises states against deporting even rejected asylum seekers to Eritrea on the grounds that they may be ill treated, according to UNHCR. Egyptian Foreign Ministry officials had no immediate comment. Egypt, already home to tens of thousands of African migrants, has seen a surge of Eritreans arrive in recent months, including Pentecostal Christians fleeing religious persecution and others trying to avoid military conscription, activists say. The surge comes as Egypt faces pressure to block the flow of mostly African migrants over its Sinai border into Israel. Egyptian police have shot dead at least 13 migrants at the Israel border this year and detained scores more. UNHCR described the success of some migrants in using Egypt as a base to reach neighbouring Israel as a "pull factor" in drawing more Eritreans to Egypt, but also cited a deteriorating human rights situation in Eritrea. (For full Reuters Africa coverage and to have your say on the top issues, visit: http://africa.reuters.com/ ) (Writing by Cynthia Johnston)
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