Refugees in the Sinai: in the hands of extreme fundamentalists

Cairo, February 8th, 2011. The plight of the migrants being held in northern Sinai continues: hundreds of young Africans are still in the hands of smugglers.

Yesterday an Egyptian aid worker contacted the office of Governor Mabrouk Abdel Wahab, but received evasive answers. According to the Egyptian authorities, the news of the refugees imprisoned in shipping containers, tortured and subjected to extortion had not been confirmed even after careful investigations.

The authorities also denied they had received news about the attack on a Coptic church in Rafah last Saturday. The truth is sadly different, and there have been further acts of violence against Christians living in the region, so much so that Coptic Christian families are presently living barricaded in their homes. Yesterday afternoon there was another episode of violence, again in the governorate of Northern Sinai. In front of numerous witnesses, members of the fundamentalist Islamic sect Takfir Wal-Hijra engaged in a shoot-out with some patrol officers, in the district of Ahrash at Rafah.

The terrorists were armed with grenade launchers and a police officer, Muhammad Nabil, and a civilian were wounded. The shooting lasted for two hours. The press agency Ma'an reported that some Bedouins of the Rmellat tribe rescued the police officers in difficulty. Ma'an explains that the Takfir Wal-Hijra sect is connected both to the Muslim Brotherhood and to al-Qaeda. The Takfir Wal Hijra movement, which was formed in the 1960s, has emerged again in Egypt in recent years, finding new members and supporters everywhere. Sleeper cells in the group are known to be present in Spain and other EU countries. The peculiarity of this group is the faculty that Islam allows its members to disobey the Islamic precepts in order to integrate themselves into moderate or non-Islamic societies.

The members of the group, in fact, may shave, wear Western clothes, drink alcohol and eat pork. In this way, they are able to deceive the "infidel" and moderate Muslims, all with the aim of obtaining Dar al-Islam: a world completely Islamized, the universal caliphate. Takfir Wal-Hijra is also present in Cairo. Also according to local sources, on Friday a Takfir Wal-Hijra gang abducted three policemen at Dahaqliya after the patrol had left the command of al-Arish in a car. All the gangs of traffickers in northern Sinai obey the Takfir Wal-Hijra group, and considers legitimate and even praiseworthy any action (even the most atrocious) aimed at increasing the economic, military or social power of extreme fundamentalism.

Unfortunately, the lives of African migrants in northern Sinai depend on these people, whose only law is that of predation and conquest. Unfortunately, today's Egypt is not immune to the dangerous appeal Takfir Wal-Hijra holds over the people of Islamic faith, which envisages growth scenarios and dominion not only in the Middle East.

In the photo, members of the Takfir Wal-Hijra sect

Refugees in the Sinai: in the hands of extreme fundamentalists

The real situation faced by refugees in Northern Sinai

Refugees in the Sinai: the traffickers have killed another police officer.

Refugees in Sinai: after hopes were raised, the tragedy continues

Refugees in the Sinai. Another group has been located at El Gorah

Sinai: why is it so difficult to combat human trafficking?

Sinai. Egyptian police kill Eritrean girl

Egypt called to take effective action over torture of refugees in Sinai Desert

Maintenance of Border Defenses Between Egypt and Israel

Will Egypt ever catch the people traffickers?

Global human trafficking awareness day: CSW calls for effective action for Eritrean hostages in Sinai