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EGYPT
DEADLY JOURNEYS
THROUGH THE DESERT

Sub-Saharan African refugees,
asylum-seekers and migrants in
Egypt are being killed, imprisoned
and forcibly returned to countries
where they are at risk of serious
human rights violations.
Twenty-five people have been shot
and killed trying to cross the Egyptian
border into Israel since mid-2007
and more than 1,300 civilians have
been tried by an Egyptian military
court. In June 2008, up to 1,200
Eritrean nationals were forcibly
returned from Egypt to their country,
where they face the risk of torture
and other serious human rights
violations. According to the UN High
Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR),
between 2 million and 3 million
migrants, mostly Sudanese, were
living in Egypt in 2007.
DEATH AT THE BORDER
Mervat Mer Hatover, a 37-year-old
Eritrean, was killed from a shot 
to the head as she jumped over 
a barbed wire border fence near 
El Kuntilla region in the Sinai
Peninsula on 16 February 2008.
Mervat Mer Hatover, who was
accompanied by her two young
daughters, was shot by Egyptian
security forces posted at the border
with Israel. Three days later, 
50-year-old Ermeniry Khasheef, a
Sudanese national, was shot dead
near Rafah; another Sudanese, 
Adam Mohammed Othman, aged 23, 
was killed in the same area on 
10 March 2008. On 28 June, a
seven-year-old Sudanese girl and
a man were shot dead by Egyptian
security forces near Rafah. 
Since mid-2007, hundreds of
refugees, asylum-seekers and migrants
from countries in sub-Saharan Africa
– men, women and children – have
risked their lives trying to cross the
Egyptian border into Israel. Aided
by local smugglers, they arrive at
night and are dropped in small
groups near the 250km-long border
fence between Egypt and Israel.
They then run towards the barbed
wire fence which marks the border
and struggle to go over it or cut
through it as quickly as they can.
The Egyptian border guards usually
fire warning shots into the air and
order them to stop. Those who do not
comply often end up paying with their
lives. In 2007, six people were killed
by the Egyptian border authorities.
Seventeen more people were shot
dead between January and July 2008
in 14 separate incidents inwhich tens
of others were injured. Many of the
wounded arrive at hospital with
serious bullet injuries to the chest,
back, thighs or legs. InAugust
2007, 48 people who had managed
to cross the border were forcibly
returned to Egypt by the Israeli
authorities; around 20 of them were
then reportedly forcibly returned
from Egypt to Sudan. The fate of the
others remains unknown.
The Egyptian government is entitled to
regulate the entry and stay of foreign
nationals but, in doing so, they must
respect every person’s right to life.
International standards require that
security forces use firearms only in
strictly limitedcircumstances: if lives
are in danger and when there are no
other means to respond to that
danger.There is nothing to indicate
that those seeking to leave Egypt and
cross into Israel have used force or
posed any threat to the Egyptian
border guards who fired at them.
However, Amnesty International is
unaware of any official investigations
carried out by the Egyptian
authorities into these killings and
the use of lethal force by Egyptian
border guards. 
UNFAIR TRIALS 
While thousands of migrants have
managed to cross from Egypt into
Israel in recent years, many have
been arrested while trying to do so.
When this happens, they are stripped
of their belongings and transported to
Al Arish, where they are charged by
the military prosecutor with “attempting
to exit unlawfully the Egyptian
eastern border.”
Under increasing pressure from
Israel to staunch the flow of people
crossing irregularly, the Egyptian
authorities have intensified border
controls. Since 2007, more than
1,300 civilians are reported tohave
been tried and convicted on this
charge by an Egyptian military court –
EGYPT: DEADLY JOURNEYS THROUGH THE DESERT
Amnesty International August 2008 Index: MDE 12/015/2008
2
Right: Eritrean asylum-seekers facing
trial before Daraw misdemeanours
court, north of Aswan, 13 April 2008.
Cover image: A girl’s dress left on the
barbed wire fence marking the border
between Egypt and Israel.
© Rafat Samir

in contravention of international
standards of fair trial. Until recently,
men were sentenced to one-year
prison terms and a fine of 2,000
Egyptian pounds (US$376). Now,
however, the court tends to impose
suspended sentences on both women
and men, following which deportation
procedures are immediately begun
to return those sentenced to their
countries of origin. To date, none of
those tried have been allowed access
to UNHCR representatives in Egypt
although many may be refugees 
or asylum-seekers in need of
international protection. 
FORCIBLE RETURN OF
ASYLUM-SEEKERS
The Egyptian authorities have
tightened control measures at the
country’s southern border with
Sudan. Refugees, asylum-seekers
and migrants from countries in 
sub-Saharan Africa who pass
through Egypt’s southern border 
are immediately arrested and then
forcibly returned. Since February
2008, hundreds of Eritreans have
entered Egypt via its border with
Sudan or by crossing the Red Sea.
Although many had already been
recognized as refugees by UNHCR
in Sudan, they have been detained
by the Egyptian authorities and
denied access to UNHCR
representatives in Egypt to assess
their asylum claims there. Given
suspended one-month prison
sentences for entering Egypt
irregularly, the Eritrean nationals
have been detained and then forcibly
returned to Eritrea. This was done in
complete breach of UNHCR
guidelines calling on all governments
not to forcibly return refugees and
asylum-seekers, including rejected
asylum-seekers, to Eritrea. 
Up to 1,200 Eritrean nationals were
subject to collective expulsion from
Egypt to Eritrea between 12 and 
19 June 2008. Subsequently,
according to reports reaching Amnesty
International from Eritrea, since their 
forcible return most men and several
women have been detained in
military training camps at Wia.
Pregnant women and those with
children are believed to have been
released after several weeks in
detention.
These forcible returns clearly breach
Egypt’s obligation to respect the
principle of non-refoulement , 
the provision under international law
which prohibits the return of any
person to a country where they
would be at risk of torture and other
forms of persecution. Many of those
that the Egyptian authorities forcibly
returned to Eritrea fled from their
country to avoid indefinite military
service or because of religious
persecution against Christians. 
EGYPT: DEADLY JOURNEYS THROUGH THE DESERT
Index: MDE 12/015/2008 Amnesty International August 2008
3
SUDANESE NATIONAL, aged three
Just after midnight on 22 July 2007,
Samar, then a two-year-old girl, was
hiding in the arms of her 28-year-old
mother, Hajja Abbas Haroun, who was
then seven-months pregnant. Hajja
Abbas Haroun and her husband, Saddik
Sahour Abkar, both from the war-torn
Darfur area of Sudan, were preparing to
sprint towards the border fence. But they
were spotted by the Egyptian border
guards when a child in their group began
crying. Hajja Abbas Haroun died instantly
from a shot to the head. Other members
of their group were injured and others
were arrested. 
Samar spent a few days detained at 
the Al Arish police station and was then
taken to Rafah hospital. Her uncle,
Haroun Abdel Gabbar, finally arrived to
collect her and to recover Hajja Abbas
Haroun’s body. Amnesty International is
not aware of any official investigation
into her death. Samar’s father, Saddik
Sahour Abkar, was tried by a military
court and sentenced to one year in prison.
Father and young daughter were reunited
when he was released on 4 August 2008. 
© Nora Younis
Samar Saddik Abkar, whose mother was
shot dead while trying to cross the
border from Egypt to Israel, in the arms
of her aunt, Nora Hamed.
For more information, see Egypt: Rights of individuals
intercepted at the border with Israel must be protected
(Index: MDE 12/027/2007) and Egypt: Amnesty
International calls for President to stop flights to
possible torture in Eritrea (Index: MDE 12/014/2008).
SAMAR SADDIK ABKAR

EGYPT: DEADLY JOURNEYS THROUGH THE DESERT4
RECOMMENDATIONS
AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL CALLS ON THE GOVERNMENT 
OF EGYPT TO:
/square6urgently ensure that Egyptian security forces use force only instrict
accordance with relevant international human rights standards
and are instructed that they may not use firearms or other lethal
force except when this is strictly necessary to protect their own
lives or the lives of others; 
/square6ensure that all members of the Egyptian security forces are given
adequate human rights training, including on the rights of refugees
and asylum-seekers and on the rights of migrants;
/square6investigate, promptly, thoroughlyand impartially, all cases in
which Egyptian border guards or other security forces have opened
fire on people seeking to cross Egypt’s borders with Israel or other
countries, bring to justice those responsible for killings or for
excessive use of force, and provide reparations to those whose rights
have been abused; 
/square6stop trying civilians in military courts in breach of international
standards of fair trial;
/square6ensure that migrants, refugees and asylum-seekers are not
detained for migration control purposes; detention is only
permissible when the authorities can demonstrate, on an individual
basis, that it is necessary and proportionate and is used for a
legitimate purpose under international law;
/square6cease all forcible returns of Eritreans to Eritrea in line with
UNHCR guidelines and cease all forcible returns of people to 
all countries where they face human rights violations in line 
with Egypt’s obligations under international human rights and
refugee law; 
/square6ensure that Egypt respects its obligation to allow asylum-seekers
meaningful access to asylum procedures and to UNHCR; and to
ensure that individuals who are fleeing persecution are afforded
international protection.
ACCESS TO REFUGEES
RESTRICTED 
Egypt is party to both the UN Convention
relating to the Status of Refugees and
the African Union Convention Governing
the Specific Aspects of Refugee
Problems in Africa.Both require Egypt
to provide international protection to
refugees. According to the agreement
between Egypt and UNCHR, the
Egyptian authorities are obliged to
allow asylum-seekers to meet with
UNHCR representatives and to respect
UNHCR’s assessments of refugee
status. However, between February
and mid-June 2008, UNHCR
representatives in Egypt were unable
to gain access to Eritrean refugees
and asylum-seekers in Egypt, estimated
to number around 1,400. On 15 June
2008 following appeals from
Amnesty International and others,
Egypt’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs
announced that UNHCR would be
allowed access to the Eritreans to
assess their asylum claims. However,
by late July UNHCR representatives
had been able to interview only 179
Eritrean and Ethiopian asylum-seekers.
The people, including children, were
detained at the Shallal Central Security
Forces camp near Aswan. Their claims
for asylum are still being considered
by the Egyptian authorities. Other
Eritrean nationals – their number is
unknown – remain in detention in
Egypt and continue to be denied
access to UNHCR.
Amnesty International is a global movement of 2.2 million people in more than 150 countries
and territories, who campaign on human rights. 
Our vision is for every person to enjoy all the rights enshrined in the Universal Declaration of
Human Rights and other international human rights instruments. We research, campaign,
advocate and mobilize to end abuses of human rights. Amnesty International is independent
of any government, political ideology, economic interest or religion. 
Our work is largely financed by contributions from our membership and donations.
Amnesty International,
International Secretariat, Peter Benenson House
1 Easton Street, London WC1X 0DW 
United Kingdom
www.amnesty.org
Index: MDE 12/015/2008
August 2008