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Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/16/world/16bedouin.html
Bedouin Smugglers Abuse Africans Held for Ransom, Israel Group Says
(New York Times) Dina Kraft - About 1,000 African migrants trying to cross the Sinai Desert from Egypt into Israel have been systematically beaten, raped and held captive for ransom in the past year by the Bedouin smugglers they hired to help them make the journey, the Israeli Hotline for Migrant Workers advocacy organization said Tuesday. A new report depicts a network of torture camps where the migrants, mostly Eritrean, are sometimes held for months in abusive conditions, while their Bedouin captors press their families abroad to send thousands of dollars in ransom money. About 33,000 Africans, most of them migrant workers seeking better economic prospects, have crossed into Israel from Egypt since 2005, including 13,600 last year.