Organs have been stolen from some 57 Darfur refugees in Egypt, according to Mohamed al-Basha, regional manager of the International Organization for Immigration (IOM).
“There are 1000 refugees that pass through Egypt to go to Israel,” Basha said. “More than 20 percent of them have their organs stolen or are sexually harassed.
Assistant Health Minister Abdel Hamid Abaza admitted that 1500 illegal organ transfer operations are conducted in Egypt every year, mostly involving poor Egyptians who sell their organs for money.
“But 80 percent of the unlicensed centers that do these operations were closed down after the human organs law was issued,” he said.
However, Naela Gabr, head of the National Coordinating Committee on Preventing and Combating Human Trafficking, denied that organs were being stolen from African nationals in Egypt as they head to Israel.
“Autopsies have proved that some of them died of hunger or thirst,” she said.
Translated from Al-Masry Al-Youm
