Group says 5 Egyptians disappeared after being deported back

CAIRO – An international rights group has expressed concern about the disappearance of five Egyptians who were recently deported back to the country, saying they are at serious risk of torture.

Human Rights Watch said in a report on Thursday that Malaysia had deported four of the men in early March while Turkey deported the fifth in January. Three of them were sentenced in Egypt over links to Islamist groups.

Michael Page, deputy Mideast and North Africa director at the New York-based watchdog, says “Egypt has a dire record of systematic torture, forcible disappearances, and unfair trials of dissidents.”

It urged authorities “to provide full legal access to these deportees.”

Egypt has waged heavy crackdown on Islamists and rights activists after the military’s 2013 ouster of controversial Islamist President Mohammed Morsi.