Israel to Become Biggest Jailer of Largely African Refugees

27 Jan 2012

A+ A= A-
    Print this page      0 comments
0
     


On January 11th the Israeli parliament passed an amendment to the so- called “Infiltrators Law”. This revision allows the authorities to automatically imprison asylum seekers for three years. The plan includes constructing a 10,000 person jail to house the refugees. According to Amnesty International, this puts Israel at the top of the Western World for length of imprisonment of refugees. Today Israel is home to nearly 50,000 asylum seekers from Africa, 85% of whom are from Eritrea and Sudan.

The Real News' Lia Tarachansky spoke to Nic Schlagman and Johannes Bayu of the African Refugee Development Center, Ran Cohen of Physicians for Human Rights, and "Ibrahim", an Eritrean asylum seeker in Israel for ten years.

© The Real News Network

You can find this page online at http://sacsis.org.za/site/article/1186.

A+ A= A-
    Print this page      0 comments
0
     

Leave A Comment

Posts by unregistered readers are moderated. Posts by registered readers are published immediately. Why wait? Register now or log in!