Egyptian police shot and killed a 39-year-old Sudanese man as he tried to cross into Israel, security and medical sources said.
The shooting took place along Egypt’s desert border with Israel on Saturday.
Israel has pressured Egypt to curb the flow of African migrants using the Sinai border to seek work or asylum in Israel, but rights groups complain about border forces’ methods.
Egyptian police have so far killed 17 migrants this year, compared to 19 for the whole of 2009.
The United Nations and Amnesty International say the use of force against unarmed migrants must be kept in check.
Security forces say they fire at migrants only if repeated orders to stop are ignored, and add that in some cases they come under fire themselves from smugglers ferrying migrants to the border.
This month, Egypt passed a law imposing penalties on human traffickers. Those convicted could get life imprisonment or a fine of up to 500 million Egyptian pounds ($90 million).
Source: www.af.reuters.com
