After five months as the hostage of Bedouin people traffickers in Egypt's remote Sinai desert region, 22 year-old Philemon Semere was finally released on 29 January 2013. His pastor described the first conversation that he had with Philemon after his release: "For the first time I talk with laughing and I laughed with him."
Family can't meet extortionate ransom demands
In November 2011 Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW) reported that the Bedouin people traffickers, who abducted Philemon three months earlier, had given friends and family five days to raise US$25,000, or his organs would be harvested. Worse still, in a telephone conversation with CSW's Special Ambassador Stuart Windsor, a clearly distraught Philemon confirmed that "if they don't get the money, they will kill me in five days." Although his family had raised some money, they could not meet the extortionate sum.
The deadline passed and having received some money, the people traffickers kept Philemon alive, torturing him regularly. Philemon described suffering electric shocks, severe beatings and being tied to a tree and left outside exposed to the elements. Eventually, a church raised the remaining funds to secure Philemon's release.
Philemon walks free
As he walked free, Philemon must have reflected on how far he had come. He escaped from Eritrea to Ethiopia in 2010, where he sang in the church choir in Adi Harish Refugee Camp. Early in 2012, he travelled to Sudan and was attempting to reach Israel when he was abducted by the traffickers and taken to a torture and extortion facility in the Sinai. In October, Philemon was moved to another facility, where he was subjected to severe torture. It was there that his captors informed him he had five days to either produce US$ 25,000 or lose a kidney.
Relatives forced to listen to screams of torture via telephone
Sadly, Philemon's case is one of many. Refugees and migrants from the Horn of Africa, and particularly Eritreans, are routinely abducted and abused by Sinai people traffickers. The abduction, torture and extortion have been extensively documented since 2010, when CSW, Agenzia Habeshia, Everyone Group and Human Rights Concern issued a joint appeal for international intervention. Hostages are generally bound for extended periods, deprived of adequate food, given salty water to drink, and tortured using extreme methods, including electric shocks and branding, while friends and relatives are obliged to listen to their screams via telephone.
Women are particularly vulnerable to abuse, including gang-rape. Some hostages have been used as slave labour. Initially, demands for payment ranged between US$3000 and US$8000, but have increased enormously. When payments are not forthcoming, vital organs are forcibly harvested in unhygienic conditions, generally resulting in the death of the person concerned. This illegal activity is the work of well-organised criminal networks, who have gained vast wealth and are now extremely well armed. These Bedouin networks are so organised that people are increasingly being abducted from refugee camps in Sudan and held as hostages.
Out of the frying pan, into the fire
Eritreans like Philemon are fleeing one of the world's most repressive regimes, a state often likened to North Korea for its brutality towards its own citizens. The military pervades every aspect of society, including education and the economy, and military service, which is mandatory, can last indefinitely, with recruits used as forced labour on farms, development projects and mining projects.
Tens of thousands of Eritreans languish without charge or trial in the country's maze of detention centres without having received - and with no hope of receiving - due process. The number of detainees increased in January, with the detention of 20 underground church leaders following possible infiltration of these networks and the arrest of a number of military and political figures in the aftermath of a brief uprising by young soldiers on 21 January. It is little wonder that thousands of Eritreans flee their country every year, risking a government shoot-to-kill border policy, but unfortunately falling easy prey for people traffickers.
How can we prevent more stories like Philemon's
Philemon is free, however, many others are still being tortured by traffickers with little regard for human dignity. Only concerted international action can bring an end to this appalling trade in human beings and their organs for profit and the exploitation of some of the world's most vulnerable people.
CSW's Africa and Middle East Advocacy Team have been working to urge the Egyptian authorities to take effective action to end trafficking and illegal organ harvesting within their borders and punish its perpetrators. We are also calling on the international community to assist in combating this affront to human dignity, and to ensure that victims are afforded protection and refuge.
I want to...
Provide
Make a gift to help expose the suffering of Eritrean Christians
Your gift today will help CSW push for change in Eritrea - plus, if you donate £25 or more you will get a great limited-edition poster artwork free!