CAIRO (AP) An international rights group decried on Monday Egypt's policy of detaining refugees from Syria, pressuring them to leave the country. It said dozens of those held have returned to the civil war in their home.
Human Rights Watch said in statement that security officials have acknowledged that the refugees will be held indefinitely until they depart.
The New York-based group says 1,200 out of more than 1,500 who have been detained for weeks and sometimes months have been coerced to leave. Some 300 remained as of Nov. 4, held at overcrowded police stations.
Some of the refugees are as young as two months old and at least 400 are Palestinians.
"Egypt is leaving hundreds of Palestinians from Syria with no protection from Syria's killing fields except indefinite detention in miserable conditions," said Joe Stork, HRW Middle East deputy director.