Sudans war refugees describe horrors in Egyptian jails, surging deportations

CAIRO, June 24 – Al-Nazir Al-Sadig sought safety in Egypt from the civil war in Sudan.Instead, the 18-year-old died of pneumonia after more than three weeks in a squalid Cairo jail, where he had suffered beatings and extortion at the hands of other inmates, his friends and relatives said.A high-school student, Al-Sadig was detained as part of what lawyers and human rights groups describe as a sweeping crackdown on refugees that contrasts sharply with Egypt’s stated role as a safe haven.Egypt rejects the claims that it is unwelcoming to refugees.

It took in more than a ​million people when war broke out in Sudan in 2023, acting as a buffer to those who might otherwise continue north to Europe.But authorities, facing an economic crisis and rising anti-migrant sentiment, have since taken an increasingly strict line with a series of arrests and deportations.Starting late last year, plain-clothes security officers have detained thousands of refugees and other ‌migrants in homes and workplaces, pulling them off streets into unmarked vehicles, according to 45 refugees, seven lawyers and eight advocates.

The reporting found some were leaving Egypt and taking their chances in war-torn Sudan rather than risk being separated from their families and deported.Others have gone into hiding, at a time activists warn a newly implemented law risks further eroding asylum protections.Authorities have deported more than 5,500 people since November, a fraction of the overall refugee population but a sharp escalation from around 100 formal deportations each year in 2023 and 2024, three security officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity and citing previously unreported figures.Egypt does not publish detailed immigration data and Reuters could not independently verify the deportation and detention figures in the current crackdown.Reuters documented three fatalities of Sudanese refugees in Egypt’s overcrowded prisons this year: a 30-year-old who collapsed 72 hours after...