Syrian women and children at the Egypt border wait to cross on January 22, 2013 (Photo: Reuters)
Amnesty International's report on Syrian refugees in Egypt is “inaccurate” and does not reflect the true situation, according to an Egyptian foreign ministry spokesperson.
In a report published on Thursday, the international human rights group accused Egypt of unlawfully detaining and deporting hundreds of Syrian refugees, many of them women and children.
"The report is inaccurate. There is no official policy on the forced deportation of our Syrian brothers. Most of them live in peace and there are no refugees camps in the country," Ambassador Badr Abdel-Attai said in a press statement.
He admitted some Syrians had been deported for participating in “armed protests and violent clashes.”
The decision to require entry visas and security clearance for Syrians entering Egypt was an exceptional decision related to the security situation and would be reviewed when things are more stable, Abdel-Attai added.
By mid-October, the number of Syrian refugees in Egypt registered with UNHCR was 123,296.
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