Amnesty International supporters are sending
appeals to the Egyptian authorities expressing
concern that three men and two women have
been shot dead by Egyptian security forces since
the beginning of 2008, as they attempted to
cross the border into Israel.
On 19 February Egyptian security forces shot dead
a Sudanese man trying to cross into Israel bringing
the total to five. Security officials said 50-year-old
Ermeniry Khasheef was shot in the back after he
ignored orders to stop as he attempted to cross
barbed wire near the border town of Rafah, in the
north of the Sinai Peninsula.
Three days earlier, an Eritrean woman, Mervat Mer
Hatover was shot dead after she ignored orders to
stop as she was attempting to jump over the barbed
wire in the El Kuntilla border region, in south-eastern
Sinai Peninsula.
According to security officials, Mervat Mer Hatover and
her two daughters - aged eight and 10 - had been among
a group of Africans who paid smugglers to help them
cross into Israel. All were arrested. The military prosecutor
has reportedly ordered an autopsy on Mervat Mer Hatover
but no proper investigation is known to have taken place.
An Amnesty International spokesperson said:
'We're concerned that the Egyptian border police are
disregarding their duty in opening fire on people
who may have in no way presented an immediate
threat to life.
'The international standards are clear: if lives are in
immediate danger, then lethal force is permissible.
If not, it is not.
'Desperate migrants should not be at
the mercy of border guards who disregard
basic international standards over
using their weapons.'
On 30 January two migrants from Ivory Cost were
shot and killed trying to cross the border south of
Rafah. According to the Egyptian security forces,
a 22-year-old man and an 18-year-old woman bled
to death before an ambulance could reach them.
Six Eritreans and two Ethiopians were also arrested.
On 19 January, another man from Ivory Cost bled to
death after he was shot in the thigh at the border with
Israel. A Sudanese and a Guinean were arrested.
Thousands of migrants, refugees and asylum-seekers,
mostly from Sudan and Eritrea or other parts of
sub-Saharan Africa, try to cross from Egypt to
Israel each year. Their numbers have been
increasing since 2007. In July 2007 alone, over
230 mostly Sudanese migrants were arrested
trying to cross into Israel without official permission.
According to the UNHCR some two to three million
Sudanese nationals live in Egypt; most of them are
migrants but they also include thousands of refugees
who have fled persecution in Sudan. Israel has put
pressure on Egypt to reduce the flow of people
crossing the border into its territory without
authorization.
Amnesty supporters will be calling on the authorities
to order a thorough and impartial investigation into
the killings in line with UN principles.
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