http://www.aftenposten.no/nyheter/uriks/Rettssak-i-Sverige-etter-tortur-i-Sinai-7213298.html#.UaTNhdJM_xA
Trial in Sweden by torture in Sinai
Two men will be prosecuted in Sweden for extortion of relatives of people being abducted and tortured in the Sinai Desert in Egypt.
Published: May 28. 2013 6:42 Updated: May 28. 2013 6:42
The charges will probably be taken on Tuesday, according to news agency TT. The two men have Swedish citizenship and Middle Eastern origin, and the trial will take place in a court outside Stockholm.
According to prosecutors tried men to collect ransom in Sweden for individuals who were held captive in Sinai. In recent years, several thousand people have been tortured, blackmailed or killed in this area.
Norwegian-affected Eritreans
Victims are often refugees from Eritrea, and the perpetrators usually belong Bedouin tribes who live in Sinai. Eritreans in Sweden, Norway and several other Western countries have received phone calls from the desert where they hear the cries of family members being tortured.
Then, many received ransom. Despite the ordeal has affected a large number of Eritreans abroad, the trial in Sweden will be the first of its kind in the West.
Eritrea Expert Claire Beston from the human rights organization Amnesty International says she knows to similar litigation in Sudan and Israel.
Electroshock and rape
Some of the victims are abducted from refugee camps in Sudan and sold to criminal gangs Bedouin in the Sinai. Eritreans who have dropped out of the torture camps, tells of beatings, electrocution, rape and prisoners receiving molten plastic poured over them.
Approximately 4,000 refugees were killed in Sinai, according to Israeli organizations PHR and HMW. Only among the refugees who have managed to reach Israel, at least 5,000 have been tortured.
(software translation)
Received on Tue May 28 2013 - 16:08:59 EDT