TABA, Egypt, Nov. 17 (UPI) -- A human rights group says a CNN documentary on African refugees captured by Bedouin tribesmen and enslaved led to the captives' release.
The New Generation Foundation for Human Rights said Thursday 600 African refugees who had been held captive in the Sinai while trying to make their way to Israel mostly from the Sudan and Eritrea were released shortly after CNN International aired the documentary, "Death in the Desert," Nov. 5.
The documentary detailed how the refugees were taken by Bedouins who tried to extort their families. The documentary said while they were held, the refugees were enslaved, some of them forced to give up organs and the women raped. Many were left to die in the desert.
"Many chief-traffickers were afraid of being pursued by the authorities and on Wednesday, Nov. 9, 2011, decided to release most of the groups of refugees they were holding prisoner," a release from the Italian organization EveryOne Group said.
The U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees said about 650 refugees recently entered Israel from Egypt, an unusually high number.
