CAIRO: A leading international human rights organization has said 34 Eritrean men and five women are being held by Egyptian authorities and could face being returned to their country, where they “would face a real risk of torture and arbitrary detention.” According to London-based Amnesty International, on October 18, the men and women were told they would be deported. Last week, 83 Eritrean nationals, including three women, were forcibly deported from Egypt to Eritrea. “Amnesty International believes that they had not had the opportunity to challenge their removal before a court or to apply for asylum,” the rights organization said in an Urgent Action appeal on Wednesday. It added that the women were deported on October 13 and 14 and one woman had been detained by Egyptian authorities for nearly one year before being forced out of the country. “She had been denied access to UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) and prevented from applying for asylum. Before her detention, her employer reportedly prevented her from leaving the workplace and she was subjected to mistreatment and abuse,” Amnesty said. The other two women are believed to have been deported after being held in Aswan. One of them is believed to have fled Eritrea to avoid years of forced conscription in the army. The others arrested had allegedly been detained in the Sinai peninsula en route to Israel, a common country that many African migrants attempt to escape to after reporting gross violations of human rights and dignity in Egypt. “Refugees and asylum-seekers returned to Eritrea have been detained incommunicado and tortured upon return,” Amnesty said. BM
