Egypt has expelled 600 Eritrean asylum seekers in a week, an Egyptian security official and a human rights activist said as the UN urged Cairo to stop the deportations. Mustafa Abul Hassan, of the Hisham Mubarak Centre human rights association said they have told the Egyptian government that if they are expelled to Eritrea, they risk being arrested or tortured.
An Egyptian security official speaking on condition of anonymity said 400 Eritreans were expelled while 200 others were sent back to their country overnight June 11 and that some 600 others will be expelled “soon.”
The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour has expressed alarm at the massive expulsions and urged Egypt to stop deporting asylum seekers from Eritrea, saying they could face great risks in their home country.
Arbour said in a statement released earlier in Geneva people who could well be at risk in their home country should never be sent back before their asylum claims have been properly addressed.
Arbour welcomed however Egypt’s decision to allow the UN refugee agency to have access to Eritrean asylum seekers in order to determine their refugee status.
The forced deportations have sparked local and international condemnation.
Eighteen Egyptian non-governmental organisations sent a letter to Interior Minister Habib el-Adli to express “their opposition to massive expulsions of Eritrean asylum seekers”
Hundreds of Eritrean asylum seekers have reached Egypt via its southern border with Sudan, either hoping to receive permanent refugee status, or to sneak into Israel illegally.