'I pleaded with the soldiers, but they refused to help us.'
Thousands of Sudan ese refugees who escaped to neighbouring Egypt have been detained by Egypt ian authorities in a network of secret military bases, and then deported back to their war-torn country often without the chance to claim asylum, an investigation by The New Humanitarian and the Refugees Platform in Egypt has found.
Some refugees said they had been shot at by Egyptian border guards and that their smugglers had been tortured. Hassan, who asked for his name to be changed, like all of the Sudanese refugees quoted in this story, said he escaped the capital city, Khartoum, earlier in the year after his house was invaded and his brother was killed by RSF fighters. Following his deportation, he said he was"unsure if there is still a home awaiting" him.
Some refugees told reporters that Egyptian border guard forces had shot at them in desert areas, and then arrested and deported them without any legal process. Others said they were rounded up in towns and cities and accused by security authorities of spurious offences, including smuggling, being part of a criminal smuggling group, or"causing serious harm" to Egypt.
Reporters spoke to eight Sudanese who had dealt with these brokers. Two had successfully left Sudan by paying $4,500, while three said they had been scammed by the agents. Others said they were still in Sudan seeking loans from friends and family to afford the fee. The majority of the cases investigated by reporters involved refugees detained in southern Egypt, either shortly after crossing the border or after arriving in the first main towns in the south. However, reporters also spoke to the relatives of several refugees who were arrested while conducting their daily business in the northern cities of Cairo and Alexandria and later deported, suggesting the crackdown is nationwide.
Arbitrary detentions and forced returns of migrants, refugees, and asylum seekers are common in Egypt, with previous campaigns by security forces also targeting citizens of Eritrea and South Sudan. Human rights groups say the crackdowns arefrom European states.
"Previously, deportations occurred following the conclusion of a military trial and referral to the appropriate authority," said a military officer who has served in the border guards for five years."However, we are witnessing a new trend where individuals detained are neither officially registered nor presented before the court."
Amina's experience is unlikely to be unique. The New Humanitarian and the Refugees Platform analysed local media reports, finding 13 car crashes mostly involving Sudanese nationals travelling on the same southern roads that refugees are taking. More than 160 people were injured and 20 died in the crashes - which occurred between May 2023 and February 2024 - though the reports all describe the incidents as accidents.
Reporters obtained files on nearly 200 refugees who faced investigations. The files include internal arrest reports; investigations conducted by police, border guards, the Mabahith secret police agency, and the Department of Combating Illegal Migration and Human Trafficking; and decisions taken by public prosecutors.
Throughout the process, refugees are consistently denied legal defence and the chance to initiate asylum procedures, said Mahmoud, the 31-year-old from Khartoum. He said he was detained in mid-January and accused by secret police of smuggling offences. None of the bases are designated as official detention centres by the Ministry of Interior, which is a legal requirement, according to three local lawyers who asked not to be named because of the risk of reprisals. They said the detentions are therefore illegal under Egyptian law.
Nasifa, the refugee deported in January, stayed in a place that reporters verified as the Aswan border guard base. She said refugees were held in a part of the facility that looked like"a horse stable", and that space was so cramped that new arrivals were put out in a cold courtyard. Among the detained refugees was a woman suffering from bleeding, another with high blood pressure, and a man with throat cancer, Nasifa said.There was a problem processing your submission.
Another facility identified and geolocated by reporters is Abu Simbel military base. Former detainees, lawyers, and local government officials said refugees are transferred to the base from other military camps ahead of them being deported through the nearby Ashkit border crossing. Two refugees said local aid workers gave them humanitarian support on the border, though others said they were given no assistance, and some said they were even asked to pay for their own deportation by Egyptian authorities.
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