‘Catastrophe for human rights’ as Greece steps up refugee ‘pushbacks'

Human rights groups condemn practice as evidence reviewed by the Guardian reveals systemic denial of entry to asylum seekers

At about 1am on 24 August, Ahmed (not his real name) climbed into a rubber dinghy with 29 others and left Turkey's north-western Canakkale province. After 30 minutes, he said, they reached Greek waters near Lesbos and a panther boat from the Hellenic coastguard approached.

Eight officers in blue shorts and shirts, some wearing black masks and armed with rifles, forced the group - more than half women and including several minors and six small children - to come aboard at gunpoint. They punctured the dinghy with knives and it sank. They said they would take us to a camp," said Ahmed. The children were happy and started laughing, but I knew they were lying."