As we travel to the mosque, the men are very edgy. 
 
MAN (Translation):   Mr Fouad, please don’t film. Don’t film anything inless we say you can.
 
There are rival Bedouin gangs and these men may well be part of the people smuggling trade. It's impossible to know their motives. And here is the man who escaped. His name is Mohamed Ali Ramadan. He says he was kidnapped in Aswan and driven to a grass hut outside Al Arish, where he was severely tortured by Bedouin gangsters for 40 days. We go inside and he strips off to show me his scars. 
 
REPORTER (Translation):  What did they beat you with?
 
MOHAMED ALI RAMADAN (Translation):  They burnt me with fire, these are burns with fire. On my back, it was a whip. This was beating with a stick, it was very swollen.
 
Mohamed is one of few people to have escaped the gangs. His information gives a rare look into their deadly world. He says the gangsters filmed the torture on their phones and sent the video to the families of their victims. They wanted $30,000 ransom. He says he saw four people killed.
 
MOHAMED ALI RAMADAN (Translation):  Four died, that left seven, I saw it, I carried them and shrouded them myself. I’d wrap them in a blanket.
 
REPORTER (Translation):  Where did they take those who died?
 
MOHAMED ALI RAMADAN (Translation):  They would wrap them in a blanket and take them away. I don’t know where they take them and they’d say if you don’t pay them, the doctor will remove your kidney.
 
MAN (Translation):  Rest assured, everything will be fine - You will go back to your children and you will pray for us there.
 
MOHAMED ALI RAMADAN (Translation):  God bless you and help you.
 
Mohamed is safe now. But the threat to remove his organs was a vital piece of information. Back in the office of human-rights investigator Hamedy Al Azazy, he reveals much more.
 
HAMEDY AL AZAZY (Translation):  I found this body opened in this way.
 
Hamdy believes he has uncovered how corrupt officials arrange to have the bodies buried quickly. He shows me this burial permit.
 
HAMEDY AL AZAZY (Translation):  It states “cause of death is subject to investigation”. Well, you provide me with the burial permit, then that is it, I will bury him.  This is me when I was checking… so it is not that I heard it second-hand or I was told what to say, I declare that this person’s abdomen has absolutely no organs… so where is the rest of the body?  When the doctor writes “subject to investigation”?  It’s unreasonable and totally illogical.
 
REPORTER (Translation):  So has the body been buried?
 
HAMEDY AL AZAZY (Translation):  We took it and buried it.
 
REPORTER (Translation):  So when will you investigate?
 
He says he was told that a mobile clinic is involved in the horrible trade.
 
HAMEDY AL AZAZY (Translation):  No one would know it is a mobile clinic, they would think it was a vegetable van or… a container carrying frozen goods, for example. It is white and there are company advertisements on it.
 
There is no way of checking Hamdy's claim of a mobile clinic, but I did take his photos here, to the office of Abd Alwahab Mohamed, a senior doctor from Al Arish Hospital.
 
ABD ALWAHAB MOHAMED, DOCTOR (Translation):  These are clearly the ribs, the thoracic cage – opened by a professional, a surgeon, someone trained. Who was not performing an operation, then dumped him in the desert or wherever he was found. He was being cut for a reason, judging by the photo, they were taking organs from him.
 
REPORTER (Translation):  So you don’t get cases like this in the hospital?
 
ABD ALWAHAB MOHAMED (Translation):  No, I personally have not come across this.
 
REPORTER (Translation):  Well, we have this report here, what does it say?
 
ABD ALWAHAB MOHAMED (Translation):  The name and the nationality are unknown, case is subject to investigation. In this case, it should be passed on to prosecution and forensics to establish the cause of death – unless there is a clear cause like a gun shot, then it is clear the cause is a gun shot to the head or chest.  But if the body is cut like this… or if it is subject to investigation, you should inform prosecution and forensics will examine the body and establish the cause.
 
REPORTER (Translation):   You don’t think anyone examined the body?
 
ABD ALWAHAB MOHAMED (Translation):   Maybe they did but did not write anything.
 
The trade in human misery has sparked a deadly conflict between rival Bedouin gangs. This remarkable phone video shows a heavily armed gang from the Al Tayaha tribe. They are getting ready to attack.  And this is their target - Suliman Abdullah, from Nakalwa tribe. They accused him of taking over their people smuggling routes and trading in body parts. The battle raged for 36 hours until he was killed with his brother.
 
These are the tribal elders, forced off their land in the attack. They deny the dead man from their tribe harvested organs.
 
ELDER (Translation):  He has never worked in organ trading
 
Yusuf was wounded in the attack. He says the attackers are the ones dealing in body parts.
 
YUSUF (Translation):  Yes, they trade in body organs, they slaughter people.
 
The authorities seem powerless to stop the deadly human trade, or the war between the tribes.
 
ELDER (Translation):  The security forces did not help us, not the army, the police, the intelligence, not the border guard, nothing. They did nothing for us, we have no choice. It is either this or we will have to leaveEgypt.
 
Meanwhile, Hamdy Al Azazy and his small team continue to support the living.
 
HAMEDY AL AZAZY (Translation):  This job that I do, comes from within – it is between me and God.
 
And treat the dead with dignity.
 
YALDA HAKIM:   Fouad Hady in the Sinai Desert on a very dangerous assignment. Of course, we contacted the Egyptian authorities about the claims in that story. They said they weren't able to answer our questions.
 
 

Reporter/Camera
FOUAD HADY
 
Producers
GEOFF PARISH
VICTORIA STROBL
 
Editors
WAYNE LOVE
DAVID POTTS
 
Translation/Subtitling                                                        
DALIA MATAR
SUHEIL DAMOUNY
SALEH SAQQAF