(AFP) For years Greece has been accused of illegally pushing asylum-seekers back to Turkey, a practice it strenuously denies.
But according to witnesses and rights groups, the summary deportations are also hitting vulnerable opponents of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Kurdish writer Meral Simsek, 42, is one of several people who told AFP they were sent back to Turkey to face imprisonment and possible torture after already making a perilous crossing of the border on the River Evros.
Simsek said her experience was harrowing. She claimed Greek police forcibly strip-searched her and another woman from Syria, and that she nearly died on the journey back.
“They took our phones and all our documents. They told us to undress and strip searched us. They even put hands on my vagina,” she said.
