Organ trafficking pair arrested in Cairo

CAIRO – 24 February 2018: Egypt’s Ministry of Interior has arrested on Saturday two people in Helwan city, Cairo, one of them carrying an Arab nationality, for selling and purchasing human organs via a group on social media.

The ministry asserted that the group was called “Kidney donors with material compensation”. The defendants used fake names to attract people from all Arab countries who wanted to sell or purchase human organs.

The ministry also revealed that the group used Facebook to buy kidneys for $8,000 and would sell it for $11,000. They would split the profits between them.

However, on November 21, Amr Abul-Atta, Egypt’s representative in the UN Security Council, said during the UN Security Council’s session on human trafficking that his country launched a national strategy regarding this issue in October 2016 and started its five-year work plan (2016-2021) that includes various projects and media campaigns to raise awareness of the issue and build the capabilities of people working in that field in Egypt.

He clarified Egypt’s plan to combat this phenomenon, saying that the Egyptian law for combating human trafficking was issued in 2010, a national committee was formed and specialized courts were determined for judgment in these cases.

In the same context in late 2016, Cairo introduced a law stiffening penalties against human traffickers. The move came after a migrant boat capsized in September 2016 off the Mediterranean coast, killing hundreds. The law imposes prison terms and fines on those found guilty of smuggling potential migrants or acting as brokers or middlemen.

It also imposes prison sentences on those who provide shelter to trafficked migrants, and gather, transport or otherwise facilitate their journey.

Egypt's President Abdel-Fatah al-Sisi has spoken on multiple occasions about Egypt's ongoing efforts to curb irregular migration from its shores to Europe, a key concern for European countries facing a growing migrant crisis.