The Egyptian Navy has stopped an attempted illegal emigration operation by 87 individuals, including Syrians who were fleeing the country on a fishing boat off the coast of Alexandria. The individuals have been arrested and the group is made up of 46 Egyptians, 35 Syrians and 6 Sudanese, state-run MENA reported. The 87 include 15 children and 9 women. In April, 20 people attempting to illegally emigrate from Egypt to Italy were arrested. The group consisted of 18 Syrians and 2 Egyptians and included women and children. There are more than 136,000 refugees from Syria currently in Egypt, according to Amnesty International. Since the ouster of former president Mohamed Morsi, a stricter and less favourable interpretation of the laws governing the Syrian asylum seekers' residency in Egypt has been implemented. Several hundreds of refugees from Syria were held at a police station for several weeks in November and December of last year, the majority of whom were arrested after attempting to illegally migrate off the coast of Egypt. Their treatment received widespread condemnation from rights groups, including Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and the UNHCR.
