Amnesty says Greece's treatment of migrants is shameful

Amnesty International on Thursday accused Greece of endangering the lives of undocumented migrants and refugees and of detaining them in "inhuman" conditions as the crisis-racked country cracks down on illegal immigration.

In a statement released a few days after 21 migrants died trying to cross the Aegean Sea in a boat, the rights group's Greek branch accused the police of repeatedly jeopardising migrants' lives by turning back intercepted boats, even knifing one group's inflatable dinghy and sending another boatload back with no life vests.

"Amnesty International has received reports that even people fleeing from conflict and wars in countries such as Syria are being pushed back to Turkey at the river Evros," the natural boundary between Greece and Turkey, the group said.

"The situation in Greece today is totally undeserving of the Nobel Peace Prize recently awarded to the European Union," the group's director for Eastern Europe and Central Asia, John Dalhuisen, said in a statement.

Amnesty reported the testimony of a group of Syrians who said Greek police had intercepted their dinghy in June in the middle of the river Evros.

The migrants said the police vessel began to push the dinghy back towards the Turkish side of the river, and a policeman struck the inflatable boat with a knife and sank it.

In another alleged incident in August, a group of Syrians were put in boats on the river without life vests. When they reached the Turkish side, 15 of the 40 people originally in the boats were missing, the group said.

Other migrants spoke of insurmountable obstacles in lodging asylum claims, as Greek authorities would only accept a small number of applications, exposing the remaining would-be refugees to arrest and detention.

Amnesty said it had visited a number of detention centres in July and August and found conditions to be "inhuman" and "demeaning".

Greek authorities and Frontex, the agency that helps border authorities from different EU countries work together, have tried to stem the flux of migrants since 2010.

On Saturday, year-long work on a 10.3-kilometre (6.4-mile) barbed-wire fence on the border between northeastern Greece and Turkey was finished.

But rights groups have warned that the fence will only force migrants to try more perilous routes to enter Greece by sea.

Over the weekend, the bodies of 21 migrants were found on the Aegean island of Lesbos. According to a survivor, the group from Afghanistan, including women and children, had set sail from Turkey on Thursday but ran into bad weather that sank their boat.

Six people are still missing and are believed lost.

Human rights groups warn that xenophobic attacks on migrants and refugees are on the rise in Greece, where economic hardship and crime have fuelled the rise of far-right and vigilante gangs.

Greece has seen a surge in neo-Nazi activity, with the far-right Golden Dawn party winning an unprecedented 18 seats with seven percent of the vote in June parliamentary elections.