CAIRO: As reports were circulated on the reports of hundreds of African hostages by smuggling gangs in Sinai, 13 Egyptian human rights organizations issued a joint statement urging the Egyptian government to intervene to rescue hundreds of Africans allegedly held by Bedouin traffickers at secret locations in the Sinai desert. The organizations said in a press statement that the government must stop ignoring reports about African hostages who have been held captive, tortured and raped to force their relatives to pay thousands of dollars in ransom over the past few months. The rights organizations in their statement said they have managed to contact one of the detainees in Sinai. The detainee, an Eritrean, reportedly said he is being held in a fuel truck along with 15 others because he has not managed to pay the required ransom. The detainee also said the smugglers are only giving him two bread crusts per day and salty water to drink, and he has been transferred between different locations more than once. He added that hundreds of Eritrean, Sudanese and Somali migrants are being tortured constantly. The rights organizations said the government is “obliged to intervene to rescue the migrants as a part of Egypt's commitment to enforce a law issued in May to combat human smuggling and trafficking.” The statement added that the three elements of the crime of trafficking are present in this case: the act of dealing with persons, including receipt, reception and accommodation; the use of force, violence or threat; and the intent of exploitation, including sexual exploitation and forced labor. The state is thus responsible for prosecuting the criminals and providing protection for the victims, in addition to providing medical, psychological and social care to the victims and upholding their rights. According to the Implementing Regulations of the Anti-Trafficking Law, which were issued on 30 November by Prime Minister Decree number 3028 of 2010, the National Coordinating Committee for Combating and Preventing Trafficking in Persons should immediately intervene and take all necessary steps in coordination with all the relevant authorities. The law and its implementing regulations oblige criminal and state security investigations bureaus and police stations, as well as the Public Prosecutor, to investigate these crimes. The UN Refugee Agency urged Egypt earlier this month to intervene for the release of 250 illegal Eritrean migrants allegedly being held by smugglers in a mountainous area on the border between Egypt and Israel. The refugee agency said the migrants were being harassed and their relatives asked to pay $8,000 in ransom for each individual. Egypt, however, denied the reports, saying “dubious” entities were circulating rumors to harm Egypt's reputation. Egypt is also being urged by these organizations to punish the smuggling gangs and to provide medical, psychological and social assistance to the victims. According to Israeli official figures, 1,100 migrants and asylum seekers entered the country through the desert border with Egypt every month between August and October 2010. The majority of the migrants come from Eritrea, but there are also Ethiopians and Sudanese fleeing the conflict in Darfur. The Arabic Network for Human Rights Information (ANHRI) said that Over the past few weeks, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and a number of international human rights organizations – led by Human Rights Watch and Physicians for Human Rights – have issued reports detailing the suffering of the African hostages, most from Eritrea and Ethiopia. The reports include information – received through corresponding statements made by several hostage survivors – on the detention of groups of nearly one hundred hostages, including women and children, in metal containers or underground rooms in different areas of Sinai. The hostages are beaten, burnt and lashed with electric cables, while the captors communicate with their relatives to pressure them to pay ransom. Women are separated from the men and are repeatedly gang raped by their captors. Physicians for Human Rights reported that during the last ten months alone, its clinic in Israel has operated 165 abortions for African immigrant women, half of whom the organization believes have been impregnated as a result of rape by their traffickers. Reports have also mentioned that detained women and men have been forced to work for long hours building houses and servicing the traffickers during their detention. They have been denied food and water for most of the day. BM
