ENTER AT YOUR PERIL Lives put at risk at the gate of europe © Giorgos Moutafis B.’s story and the testimonies of other refugees and migrants point to the blatant disregard shown by the Greek coastguard for human life during push-back operations carried out in the Aegean Sea. Amnesty International interviewed other people who said that their inflatable boats were rammed or knifed. Some nearly capsized while they were being circled by a Greek coastguard boat, or being towed. Some had their engines disabled, their oars removed, and were left in the middle of the sea on unseaworthy vessels. Similar dangerous practices are reported by people crossing the Evros River. N. from Darfur said he was unlawfully sent back to Turkey across the Evros River in late December 2012. “At around 9pm the Greek police tied our hands behind our backs with plastic. I saw them throw our bags into the garbage and then they took us in a small bus back to the river. There were two boats waiting in the river. They untied the hands of one of the Nigerian women; she looked sick. Then they forced us onto the boats. I was scared of falling off into the river with tied hands. They told us to get off on a small island in the middle of the river; and then they left. They didn’t even untie our hands but left us like that in the middle of the river. After about 40 minutes, the Turkish police found us on the island.” ILL-TREATmENT DURING PUshBACk OPERATIONs Almost all who claimed to have been pushed back, whether on land or at sea, said that they either experienced or witnessed violence or other ill-treatment. People described being slapped, beaten and manhandled. Almost all those interviewed described being searched, and their mobile phones, money, jewellery, bags with clothes and family photographs being taken away or thrown into the sea. In one incident two people described being stripped naked. U., an 18-year-old Afghan asylum-seeker, had been in the Edirne Removal Centre in Turkey for three months after he was illegally sent back to Turkey by Greek police in late November 2012. index: eur 25/007/2013 “We crossed the river at night-time and walked for almost a day. Near a Greek town, the police caught us. They called a van and this van took us back to the river. There were already around 20 people in the van when they picked us up. They were all Afghans. When we arrived at the river, the police kept us there in the van for three hours. It was very difficult as the van was very crowded and it smelled horrible. While we were in the van, my friend called the UN and some other organizations to ask for their help. Shortly after this call, the police opened the van and asked who called the organizations. They took us out one by one and asked this. I guess one of us told them who had made the call because they then took my friend and beat him up with batons. Then they took our phones and our belts and deported us back to Turkey.” X., from Palestine, said he was on the Aegean near a Greek island in a boat with 11 others from Palestine and Syria, including a two-month-old baby on 6 March 2013. He said that the Greek coastguard towed them back to Turkish waters. “We asked for water from the Greek police, but they laughed at us and said ‘you are like dogs’.” Amnesty International July 2013 5