Egyptian human rights activist fears for his life

ROME/EL ARISH – The Egyptian activist, Hamdy al-Azazy, winner of the 2011 Makwan Prize for Human Rights, has informed us that he fears his life is in danger. The human rights defender from Arish (North Sinai Governorate, Egypt) has received death threats from the traffickers in African refugees and human organs after reporting them to the Egyptian authorities and international institutions numerous times.

Azazy has documented and reported to the Egyptian authorities, the UN and the EU institutions the names and locations of the hideouts and meeting places of criminals such as Abu Senia (owner of the "Ghazala” in the center of Arish, pictured), Abu Musa, Abu Ahmed, Abu Khaled and many others.

The Egyptian activist, president of the New Generation Foundation for Human Rights of Arish, is the main collaborator and observer for EveryOne Group regarding the phenomenon of human and organ trafficking in Sinai. Thanks to his reports, and the witness statements and photographs he has collected, it has been possible to identify the prison camps in which the African migrants (usually very young people) are being held.

The prisoners are subjected to every kind of torture and humiliation – often while their relatives abroad are listening to their cries of despair at the end of the telephone line – until the ransom is paid that allows them to be released on the border with Israel. Those who try to escape are killed in cold blood, while the women prisoners are repeatedly raped, often in front of their husbands and brothers. (...)