Egypt/Sudan: Traffickers Who Torture

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A trafficking victim in a safe house in Cairo, Egypt, shows wounds he says traffickers inflicted on him in Sinai. Since 2010, many Eritreans have faced severe violence at the hands of traffickers in Sinai, including burning through dripping molten plastic onto the back. Victims have described how traffickers abused them while they call relatives to plead with them to pay tens of thousands of dollars in ransom. © 2013 Moises Saman/Magnum 427212
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The sun sets near the Egypt-Israel border on April 30, 2013, sealed off since early 2013 by a five meter high Israeli fence. Trafficking victims told Human Rights Watch that throughout 2012, Egyptian border guards or unknown men fired at them as they approached the border. © 2013 Moises Saman/Magnum 427212
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An Eritrean trafficking victim sleeps at a safe house in Cairo, Egypt, on May 2, 2013. Some trafficking victims who escape from or are released by their captors in Sinai find their way to Bedouin community leaders who help them travel to Cairo where various NGOs help them. © 2013 Moises Saman/Magnum 427212
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The mutilated hands of an Eritrean trafficking victim who says traffickers in Sinai abused him, permanently injuring his hands, to force his relatives to pay tens of thousands of dollars for his release. Victims have described to Human Rights Watch the techniques traffickers in Sinai used to force them and relatives to pay ransom, including rape, burning, mutilation of limbs, prolonged suspension by the ankles or wrists, and electrocution. © 2013 Moises Saman/Magnum 427212
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An Eritrean trafficking victim recovers in Cairo in May 2013 from skin transplantation surgery to treat a severe ankle infection caused by the chains traffickers used to shackle her in Sinai. Human Rights Watch interviewed 20 trafficking victims about 29 incidents involving Sudanese and Egyptian security force collusion with traffickers who then tortured their victims. © 2013 Moises Saman/Magnum 427212
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Eritrean trafficking victim recovers from skin transplant surgery in Cairo, Egypt, after traffickers in Sinai chained her ankles causing a severe infection. Trafficking victims have described to Human Rights Watch and other NGOs how traffickers chained them -- often to one another -- for months on end, while abusing them, including by raping women in front of other trafficking victims. © 2013 Moises Saman/Magnum 427212
Traffickers have kidnapped, tortured, and killed refugees, most from Eritrea, in eastern Sudan and Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula, according to dozens of interviewees.
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Middle East/North Africa
Egypt/Sudan: Traffickers Who Torture

February 10, 2014

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Egypt/Sudan: Traffickers Who Torture