Greece Said to be Torturing Asylum Seekers
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ATHENS (Der Spiegel) - According to recent reports resulting from October fact-finding missions conducted by the German Working Group on Refugees, Pro Asyl, and the Greek Group, Lawyers for the Rights of Refugees and Migrants, the Greek coast guard has not only been rejecting but torturing asylum seekers that are arriving in ever greater numbers on the Aegean coast.  Refugee organisations are demanding a response at the European level. ...refugee seekers' boats, often barely afloat, are being forced out of Greece's territorial waters. Some passengers are being set ashore on uninhabited islands on the Turkish Greek border region, provided with no water or food... It is hardly a secret that Greece has shown reluctance recently to accept refugees and asylum seekers. Earlier this year, the Mediterranean country was lampooned for the fact that it turned down almost all of the asylum applications it received from Iraqis fleeing violence back home.  But now it looks as though Greece may be in blatant violation of human rights norms. Reports released this month by Greek and German refugee organisations suggest that the Greek coast guard in the Aegean Sea has been systematically maltreating and obstructing asylum seekers arriving on their shores. Fact-finding missions conducted in summer and October of 2007 by Pro Asyl and Lawyers for the Rights of Refugees and Migrants found that refugee seekers' boats, often barely afloat, are being forced out of Greece's territorial waters. Some passengers are being set ashore on uninhabited islands on the Turkish Greek border region, provided with no water or food.  The investigative missions visited three detention centers on Greek islands and found the conditions to be "degrading and inhuman." In one case, on the island of Chios, there were reports of electric shock treatments, mock executions and beatings. In an independent report, the Greek branch of the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR), described the detention center on Samos, an island less than two kilometers from the Turkish coast, as being "deplorable" and demanded that the government close it down. Fully 391 people were found living in a room designed for 120. The staff consisted of one doctor, one social worker and a caretaker. Read more...
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The International Committee of the Red Cross has accused the US military of using tactics &quot;tantamount to torture&quot; on prisoners at the US Navy base in Guantanamo Bay, the New York Times reported on Tuesday.
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A militant group in Iraq claimedthat it had executed two Macedonians accused of spying for USforces, pan-Arab al-Jazeera TV reported Monday.
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Asylum seekers are being diverted from Swansea, in the wake of the alleged murder of an Iraqi Kurd in the city.
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Asylum seekers being held in Cardiff Prison have been moved to an immigration detention centre near London.
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A group calling itself the Islamic Army in Iraq has said it executed two Macedonian men it accused of spying for US forces, Al-Jazeera television reported.
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A BRITISH detainee at GuantÃ¡namo Bay claimed yesterday he had been subjected to &quot;vindictive&quot; torture and death threats by the US authorities during his time in custody.
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Gunmen who hijacked an Athens bus and held its passengers hostage are being questioned by Greek police after giving themselves up.
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The government ordered an investigation Tuesday into claims that the Greek coast guard systematically mistreated illegal immigrants heading for the country's eastern islands.
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Greek police hold 32 arson suspects as they step up inquiries into fires that have killed dozens of people.
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Human Rights Watch gives details of torture and abuse in prisons in the Kurdish area of northern Iraq.
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Thieves, rapists, kidnappers and  hoaxers are preying on tsunami survivors and families of  victims in Asian refugee camps, hospitals and in the home  countries of European tourists hit by the wave.
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An Australian held by the United States in Guantanamo Bay has claims he was tortured during interrogation in Egypt and abused while in US custody in Pakistan.