CAIRO: An Egyptian prosecutor has ordered the detention of 75 people following an investigation into suspected human trafficking, state media reported on Thursday.
A 14-month investigation by the Administrative Control Authority, the country’s anti-corruption body, found that the group was made of government officials, Egyptian citizens, and foreigners, state news agency MENA said.
Authorities arrested the defendants in raids across the country, from the capital Cairo to the northern city of Kafr el-Sheikh.
The probe showed that they were involved in “bribery, profiting from public office, forging official documents, and human trafficking” among a host of other offenses.
Egypt passed legislation in 2016 to crack down on a growing smuggling industry along its northern seaboard. The law imposes prison terms and fines on those found guilty of smuggling potential migrants or acting as brokers or middlemen.
It also imposes prison sentences on those who provide shelter to trafficked migrants, and gather, transport or otherwise facilitate their journey
Egypt detains 75 people in human trafficking probe
Egypt detains 75 people in human trafficking probe
20 Palestinian families abandon homes near Jericho after repeated attacks by settlers
- The families belong to Az-Zayed clan, one of the few remaining Bedouin communities in the occupied West Bank and Jordan Valley
LONDON: Repeated attacks by Israeli settlers have forced 20 Palestinian families to leave their homes in the Shallal Al-Auja community north of Jericho and move to another area, Al-Baidar Organization for the Defense of Bedouin Rights said on Tuesday.
The families belong to Az-Zayed clan, one of the few remaining Bedouin communities in the occupied West Bank and Jordan Valley, the organization said. Their way of life is under threat as a result of settler policies, as well as limited access to water and land, it added.
The clan has faced an increase in attacks by settlers in recent months, the Palestinian Wafa news agency reported, including threats, denial of access to pastures, and vandalism of properties.
Al-Baidar said that actions of the settlers “were an integral part of a structured scheme to displace indigenous Palestinians from the Jordan Valley and take over their land to make room for colonial settlement construction.”
Excluding East Jerusalem, which was occupied and annexed by Israel in 1967, there are about 3 million Palestinians and 500,000 Israeli settlers living in the West Bank.
