This account shows a premeditated process that involves bringing the interdicted migrants to one of Greece’s many tiny unpopulated islands, robbing them, putting them on different inflatable boats than they had been traveling in, putting them in new life jackets, towing the boats out to sea, and puncturing them.95 A process of this sort could not be executed by one or two guardsmen operating on their own, but would require much wider cooperation. A 14-year-old Afghan boy described in considerable detail how the Greek Coast Guard interdicted his boat, beat some of the migrants, took off the engine and the oars, punctured the boat, and set it adrift to sink: We were at sea when the Greek Coast Guard caught us. This was the second month of 1386.96 I forget the exact day. There were 20 of us, all men, 12 children and eight adults. They took us all onto their ship. When the police97 pulled us from our small boat, two of us fell down. Others from the small boat rescued them. We didn’t have swim vests. When they put us into the big boat, the police beat all of us. They told us not to come back. One man they mistakenly thought was the smuggler they beat very badly. There were about 10 coast guardsmen. I did not understand which one was the captain. The boat had Greek letters. There were four lines of letters where the cabin was. That was where they took us and beat us. They kicked me in the head. I was dizzy. I fell down. I felt the first kick to my head and then I lost consciousness. The first kick was to the side of my head. I couldn’t see how the police kicked the others; three of them were my age and one was a year younger. The police stripped us except for our pants. They took all our possessions. When someone asked about his possessions, they kicked him. We were on the Coast Guard boat from 3 am to 5 am. The Coast 95 Human Rights Watch heard similar accounts of the Greek Coast Guard puncturing inflatable boats and pushing them toward the Turkish Coast from S-113. 96 He is using the Persian calendar; this would be April or May 2007. 97 Although not technically correct, most migrants refer to Coast Guard guardsmen as “police” and sometimes also refer to the Coast Guard as the “navy.” Stuck in a Revolving Door 44