Two Eritreans were Shot Dead by Egyptian Border Patrols

(Cairo 29-03-2011) Two Eritrean men were shot dead, and three seriously wounded on the Israeli-Egyptian border in an incident that involved more than 50 Eritrean refugees, including six women and a child.   Contacts in Egypt have raised concerns and made urgent requests for assistance for medical treatment, alerting Release-Eritrea to three cases of serious bullet injuries and two fatalities that occurred on the 13th of March 2011, where Egyptian soldiers shot at Eritrean refugees crossing the border into Israel.  

All fifty plus surviving refugees, including the injured, are currently imprisoned in Suez prison.  Contacts say there is no medical support or means for meeting the basic needs of the injured prisoners or the six women and a child, who were also caught up in the incident.

There are now approximately 150 Eritreans in the prison in Suez alone.

We strongly condemn, once again, the shooting by the Egyptian authorities, of unarmed migrants attempting to enter Israel.  We call upon the Egyptian government to immediately halt its policy of shooting illegal emigrants on the Israeli border, and to formulate a legal policy to deal with the issue of asylum seekers and migrants in Egypt, and those trying to cross to Israel, that complies with International Conventions on Refugees and Asylum Seekers.

Release-Eritrea is a human rights charity based in the UK; for more information please visit www.release-eritrea.com or contact Mr Million Joseph onThis email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.';document.getElementById('cloak41a287d7ddb54242d19cf11cfcb49e4f').innerHTML += ''+addy_text41a287d7ddb54242d19cf11cfcb49e4f+'<\/a>';