Egyptian authorities should immediately investigate, with a view to prosecution, allegations that Egyptian border guards killed three Sudanese nationals trying to cross the Egypt-Israeli border, Human Rights Watch said today in a letter to the Egyptian Minister of Interior. Israeli border guards report witnessing Egyptian border guards beating and shooting the migrants.

“The reported brutality of these killings is all the more shocking as it comes at a time when Egypt and Israel are discussing the issue of asylum seekers crossing into Israel,” said Bill Frelick, refugee policy director for Human Rights Watch.

In the June Sharm el-Sheik summit, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert reportedly spoke with President Hosni Mubarak about the issue of the increasing flow of Sudanese migrants crossing the border into Israel...

...Egypt is a party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which prohibits arbitrary killings, including those resulting from unlawful or excessive use of force, and obligates states to investigate any such alleged killings. It is also a party to the UN Convention Against Torture, which prohibits resort to force amounting to inhuman and degrading treatment or torture, and requires states to investigate and prosecute any alleged incidents...