AN international medical charity says it has received 50 testimonies over two years from migrants who allege a “recurring practice” of secret, illegal and often brutal deportations to Turkey from two eastern Greek islands.

Doctors Without Borders, or MSF, said in a report released today that the forced returns were alleged to have been carried out by uniformed Greek officers or unknown masked individuals.

Athens has strongly denied such so-called “pushbacks,” and argues its coast guard has saved hundreds of thousands of migrants from the Middle East and Africa who crossed over in small boats from Turkey.