NOVANEWS
by Stephen Lendman
A November 30 Physicians for Human Rights/Israel (PHR-I) report explains “chilling evidence” of atrocities committed against sub-Saharan African refugees, migrants, and asylum seekers.
Titled, “Hundreds of Refugees Held Hostage in Sinai Torture Camps Need Rescuing,” it discusses their horrific ordeal in captivity, including torture, other physical abuse, male and female rapes, and killings.
Human traffickers mainly hold Eritreans for ransom. Relatives are pressured to pay. Tactics include phoning them to hear loved ones cry out in pain. Survivors report starvation, punching, slapping, kicking, whipping, burial in sand, electric shocks, hanging by hands or legs, branding with hot irons, as well as rape or other forms of sexual abuse.
Despite appeals for help, detention, extortion and torture continue. Hundreds remain captive.
A November 22 Amnesty International (AI) report discussed abuses committed against refugees, asylum seekers and migrants, including:
-
Egyptian security forces shooting unarmed individuals trying to reach Israel; deaths and injuries resulted, some serious;
-
others face arrest and prosecution in military courts, as well as imprisonment for trying to emigrate;
-
forcibly returning individuals to countries of origin where they risk “egregious human rights violations;” and
-
others abducted, held captive, tortured, raped, or killed by human traffickers, “while authorities have done little to protect them.”