Israel has "voluntarily" returned at least 1,000 people to Sudan, an enemy country that has vowed to punish any of its citizens who ever set foot in Israel. The repatriation was done secretly, via a third country, over the last few months, without the knowledge of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees.
Haaretz knows the name of the third country, but is withholding it to avoid harming those who returned via this route.
Though Israel claims the people's return was voluntary, this claim was rejected by UNHCR, which says there is no "free will from inside a prison."
Under a recent amendment to Israel's infiltration law, asylum seekers can be jailed for years without trial. Testimony from within prisons indicates that detainees were also denied access to UNHCR, in violation of the UN convention on the status of refugees, which Israel has signed.
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