Terror in Sinai

It was a sobering call. We talked with Segen, a 35-year-old Eritrean woman caught in the web of kidnapping, human trafficking, and extortion in the Sinai. She’s being tortured by Bedouin tribesmen who are demanding $33,000 in ransom from her Eritrean family. If they don’t pay, she might end up like five others who were kidnapped along with her … dead.

She says their bodies – weakened by lack of food and water – couldn’t stand up to the torture. The Bedouins would beat their private parts and vital areas around the heart. Their bodies simply gave out.

Segen also mentioned that sometimes they’re hung up in a way the Bedouins call “Jesus Christ.” One can imagine what that’s like…a modern-day version of crucifixion.

By the way, did I mention Segen is five months pregnant? There are hundreds of Eritreans like Segen currently in the Sinai who've been kidnapped and thousands more who have passed through this human gristmill. Many did not survive. Most are Christian.

Will the Egyptian government stop this barbaric modern-day slave trade? Many believe they could, but the answer may lie with the U.S. Embassy in Cairo.

If the embassy puts enough pressure and uses enough leverage, some believe they could force the Morsi government to stop this barbarism.  Egypt has the power to stop it, if they but had the will.