UA: 48/15 Index: MDE 12/1092/2015 Egypt Date: 27 February 2015

URGENT ACTION REFUGEES FACING DEPORTATION TO SYRIA, GAZA Seventy-five refugees from Syria, including 15 children, have been detained in an Egyptian police station since November 2014. At least 30 of them have been on hunger strike since mid- February in protest. They face being forcibly returned to Syria or the Gaza Strip at any time.

There are 75 refugees from Syria detained in Karmouz Police Station, Alexandria. They include 15 children aged between 10 months and 16 years. They all fled Syria between 2012 and 2014 due to the armed conflict in the country. Although the Egyptian Public Prosecutor ordered that they be released, the National Security Agency within the Ministry of Interior ordered their deportation.

The refugees risk being deported at any time, and psychiatrists have visited them and diagnosed some as suffering from mental health problems. More than 50 of the refugees, including a dozen children and five women, started a hunger strike on 9 February, which 30 of them are continuing. Those who stopped their hunger strike did so on the advice of doctors. Several hunger strikers were given medical help and one of them was hospitalized.

At least four Palestinian refugees from Syria who were held in Karmouz Police Station were deported to Gaza in December.

Please write immediately in Arabic, English or your own language:  Urging the Egyptian authorities to provide international protection to all the refugees fleeing the conflict in Syria who are held in Karmouz Police Station, in line with their obligations under the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees and the 1969 Convention Governing the Specific Aspects of Refugee Problems in Africa and in line with relevant UNHCR guidelines;  Urging them to release the refugees immediately in line with the Public Prosecutor’s order;  Calling on them to ensure the refugees have access to any medical attention they may require.

PLEASE SEND APPEALS BEFORE 10 APRIL 2015 TO:

Minister of the Interior Public Prosecutor And copies to: Mohamed Ibrahim Hesham Mohamed Zaki Barakat Deputy Assistant Minister of Foreign Ministry of the Interior Office of the Public Prosecutor Affairs for Human Rights 25 El Sheikh Rihan Street Supreme Court House, 1 “26 July” Road Mahy Hassan Abdel Latif ab al-Louk, Cairo, Egypt Cairo, Arab Republic of Egypt Multilateral Affairs and International Fax: 011 202 279 455 29 Fax: 011 202 2 577 4716 or 011 202 2 575 Security Affairs Salutation: Dear Minister 7165 Ministry of Foreign Affairs (switched off after office hours, GMT+3) Corniche al-Nil, Cairo Salutation: Dear Counsellor Arab Republic of Egypt Fax: 011 202 2 574 9713 Email: [email protected]

Also send copies to: Ambassador Mohamed Tawfik, Embassy of the Arab Republic of Egypt 3521 International Ct NW, Washington DC 20008 Fax: 202 244 4319 -OR- 202 244 5131 I Phone: 202 895 5400 I Email: [email protected]

Please let us know if you took action so that we can track our impact! EITHER send a short email to [email protected] with "UA 48/15" in the subject line, and include in the body of the email the number of letters and/or emails you sent, OR fill out this short online form (press Ctrl + click on link) to let us know how you took action. Thank you for taking action! Please check with the AIUSA Urgent Action Office if sending appeals after the above date.

URGENT ACTION REFUGEES FACING DEPORTATION TO SYRIA, GAZA ADDITIONAL INFORMATION Some of the refugees now held in Karmouz Police Station were part of a group of 103 refugees who had fled the armed conflict in Syria in October 2014, and were left on an island off the coast of Alexandria: the Turkish authorities took 32 of them. Four Palestinian refugees from Gaza, detained in Karmouz Police Station, were deported to the Gaza Strip in December.

The conditions in Karmouz Police Station are reported to be inadequate to protect the refugees from the winter weather, when temperatures fall as low as 9 °C. Children have fallen ill, and one of them has been hospitalized. The refugees have tried to stay warm by keeping the windows closed: this means they have no fresh air. Four refugees, including a 10-year- old child, were treated in hospital on 21 February for a range of health problems, and taken back to Karmouz Police Station a few hours later.

The conflict in Syria and the widespread human rights violations, war crimes and crimes against humanity being perpetrated there mean those who have fled are at risk of serious harm if they are forced to return, and accordingly must be granted effective protection in the countries where they have fled to.

The right to seek and enjoy asylum from persecution is enshrined in the 1948 UN Declaration of Human Rights and protected under the 1951 Convention and the 1969 Organization of African Unity (OAU) Convention. The right to asylum is also enshrined in Article 91 of the Egyptian Constitution and forcible return of refugees is prohibited.

For further information on the situation of Palestinian refugees from Syria, see Amnesty International’s July 2014 report Lebanon: Denied refuge: Palestinians from Syria seeking safety in Lebanon (https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/MDE18/002/2014/en/).

The 75 refugees in Karmouz Police Station are made up of 71 people who fled the armed conflict in Syria in 2014 and another group composed of 4 Syrian-Palestinian refugees who fled Syria between 2012 and 2014.

Names: Nawar Emad Shoublak, Nizar Emad Shoublak, Sahar Rasheed Salaymeh, Karam Basam Meaary, Akram Rashid Salaima, Zaher Khaled Zaidan, Olaa Mouhamad Sawwan, Khaled Zaher Zaidan, Zien Dien Zaher Zedan, Eyad Akram Al Toubi , Badria Abu Hamida, Akram Eyad Al Toubi, Hadeel Khalili, Umar Mohamed Saleh, Hamza Mohamed Saleh, Juri Mohamed Saleh, Nessrin Mahmmoud Al Hajeh, Mustafa Mahmoud Al Hajah, Ghaleb Youssef Abdulhak, Ahlam Amen Hoassen, Sahar Ghaleb Abdulhak, Ahmad Ghaleb Abdulhak, Mohammed Ahmad Abd Elhaq, Ahmad Kheiralla Ghannam, Rami Ahmad Awad, Mohamad Mustafa Sulaiman, Usama Zeid Salaymeh, Mohammad Omar Darwish, Moofaq Ibrahim Abbas, Hajar Sarhan Khalayli, Raed Khaled Chehada, Usama Ahmad Aljadli, Yamen Usama Aljadli, Ayham Mohammad Al Shekh Taha, Amjad Mohammed Al Shekh Taha, Husam Gamal Khattab, Tamer Abd Al Majeed Abboud, Mohammad Rajab Basyouni, Mohammad Khaled Abbas, Ammar Mohammad Abd Almajeed, Aasem Faraj Alhesan, Mgd Maroan Abo Taha, Diaa Aldin Mohammad Khair Khartabil, Yaser Walid Rifai, Abdallah Mahmoud Saleh, Mustfa Mahmoud Alqasem, Rami Fathe Ibrahim, Salam Basam Meaary, Rachid Hasan Salaymeh, Zakariya Hasan Salaymeh, Diaiddin Hasan Salaymeh, Ahmad Husein Alhusan, Yazan Husein Khatib, Bahaa Alddin Khaled Alsaid, Mohammad Majed Saad Aldeen Khartabil, Beshr Abdulrahman Qarmo, Mohammad Mustafa Musa, Othman Ahmad Malek, Khaled Burhan Fatahi, Yara Taleb Ahmad, Alaa Adnan Khalil, Mahmoud Numan Absi, Omran Jihad Jarban, Amer Mohammad Al Khaled Al Diaei, Mahmoud Harmoush, Yazen Bashar Jawish, Yousef Mohamed Elsalhani, Mustafa Mahmoud Saad, Mohamed Taleb Ahmed, Somer Suliman Gadeer, Issam Ahmed Ifara, Rami Ibrahim, Abdallah Shehabi, Omar Shehabi, Khalid Khalifah. Issues: Legal concern, Health concern, Forced return

UA: 48/15 Issue Date: 27 February 2015 Country: Egypt

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