CAUTION: IMAGES CONTAINED IN THIS ARTICLE ARE GRUESOME NORTH SINAI, Egypt: Daily newspaper Youm7 published an investigative report revealing the details of organ trafficking of African migrants in North Sinai. The report penetrated the world of organ traffickers who steal the organs of Africans to be sold inside and outside Egypt for thousands of pounds and throw the rest of the body in the desert to decompose or be eaten by wild animals. The remains of five dead Africans are inside Arish Hospital Mortuary. "We ran away seeking a better life for us and for our children; among us people legally and illegally escape to build a home, and to search for a piece of bread in an unknown land," said Yasser Ibrahim Haroun, a 22-year-old Sudanese man. Haroun traveled from Sudan's volatile Darfur region to Israel illegally by passing through Egyptian territories. He was admitted to Arish Hospital for treatment of injuries and wounds resulting from torture. The mortuary sometimes receives too many dead bodies to hold, so three dead bodies are kept in one morgue drawer, said an anonymous worker in the mortuary. As there were not many bodies in the mortuary, Youm7 exclusively was allowed to photograph some of the disemboweled bodies. Some bodies are missing their eyes, and others are completely distorted. The removed organs are injected with anesthesia to help prolong their viability, then put into small refrigerators to be smuggled across Egyptian borders, according to doctor A. B. The doctor, who asked not to be named, said many doctors neglect to write medical reports about the disfigured bodies to avoid questioning. They also write on the death certificate that the cause of death is still under investigation, which violates regulations and laws. Returning to Haroun's story, he narrates his journey from Sudan to the Burns and Surgery department in Arish Hospital. He said a person called Yassin promised to help Haroun travel to Lebanon and said he would pay all costs of Haroun's travel. However, once Haroun arrived in Sinai, he discovered he would be transported to Israel. He decided to make the trip to Israel rather than be shot and killed. He relived his fear as he told his story. When Haroun refused to pay double the amount of money agreed to in the contract he signed with Yassin, also Sudanese, he was tortured. Haroun did not pay because he did not have enough money. According to the contract, Haroun should pay U.S. $8 at his arrival at the Egyptian border. He had traveled for three days inside Land Cruisers covered with tents, which prevented the sun and air from penetrating them. He said sometimes the infiltrators would take small boats to cross the Suez Canal. When Haroun told the traffickers he could not pay the money, he was tortured. His ribs were broken and he was sprinkled with sulfuric acid. "The Bedouins told me, ‘you have to pay more,' and I told them, ‘I have no money.' They brought me a phone to call my family to pay for me, otherwise I would be killed or my organs stolen," said Haroun. "I'm sorry, I wished to create better life for me and for my children," added Haroun, who escaped from the Bedouins after they threw him in the desert. Border guards found him and brought him to Arish Hospital. Haroun's story is similar to that of an Eritrean person who told Youm7 that his deal was between him and an international organization in Sudan. Of the bodies of African migrants that are discovered, 50 percent are missing organs. The most common organs to be harvested are the kidney, liver, cornea, and sometimes the heart, according to Rabab Abdel Ghani, an Egyptian activist who volunteered to wash and shroud the dead bodies of the Africans. She said the organs are preserved in mini-bars to be smuggled across Egyptian borders to get money deposited in the accounts of the investment hospitals whose licenses are withdrawn more than once. The Africans think Israel is the land of heaven, but they do not know that the women are raped by the Bedouins, and if they succeeded to infiltrate, they became prostitutes or spies, Abdel Ghani continued. Recently, a car accident revealed the extent of human organ trafficking in North Sinai. An Egyptian doctor was killed in the crash, and mini refrigerators containing organs were found in his car. Egyptian authorities have denied the existence of organ trafficking in Sinai. According to a study conducted by the Sudanese Studies Center, Israeli soldiers cooperate with Egyptian Bedouins of al-Qassima and Wadi al-Gamr areas in organ trafficking. The cost of a kidney can reach U.S. $30,000; testicles and uterus each fetch $40,000; and a set of teeth fetch $15,000, the study found. Organ trafficking is illegal and violates Article 6 of anti-trafficking law No. 64/2010, which provides that anyone who commits the crime of human trafficking shall be sentenced with life in prison and be fined 100,000-500,000 EGP. Mohammad Rashid, sheikh of Altyaha tribe, revealed the identity of one person behind human organ trafficking in Sinai. Rashid said S. N. is behind this trafficking and is a fugitive sentenced to life in prison. Rashid said S. N. hides the Africans in a secret cave 40 kilometers away from Nakhl town and 155 from Arish. The Bedouins noticed some Africans in S.N's house, and he later confessed during a tribal council sessions that he trades in slavery as a way to get money. Residents of the town feared of changing the matter to be a mafia so they forced him to leave the town two months ago. Later, a mass grave filled with torn bodies and skeletons was unearthed 500 meters from his house, said Rashid. "When we broke into S.N.'s house 30 days ago, we found documents proving that money was transferred from Israel to his account," said an Altyaha resident. He said the residents also found out a secret cave in which they found 80 live persons who they handed over to Nakhl Police station. The number of the African migrants traveling through Sinai in hopes of reaching Israel increased after Egypt's January 25 Revolution due to the state of security chaos, said Hamdi al-Azazi, chairman of the New Generation Society for Human Rights. Egyptian Bedouin gangsters get money or weapons for organs smuggled to Israel, where the organs can be sold for three times their cost, Azazi added. According to the 2011 Trafficking in Persons Report issued by the U.S. Department of State, Egypt is in the third level worldwide for organ trafficking. Moreover, Egypt is a very important spot for trafficking as it is located between Israel and Western Europe. Trafficking operations occur in very late hours through Ahmed Helmy tunnel, said political activist Said al-Ateq. In certain cases, dead bodies are not allowed to be autopsied for unknown reasons, said one autopsy doctor, Imad el-Din el-Shahat, who added that sometimes they claim that the embassy will send a special doctor for its citizen.
