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Hundreds, if not thousands, of black African immigrants are locked up in miserable conditions in Saudi Arabia’s coronavirus detention centers, reminiscent of Libya’s slave camps, according to an investigation by the Sunday Telegraph.
Images published by the newspaper, taken by migrants on their mobile phones, show hundreds of emaciated men lying in rows inside small rooms with barred windows, many of the detainees naked to their underwear.
“It is hell here. They treat us like animals and beat us every day, ”said Abebe, an Ethiopian who has been detained in one of the centers for more than four months.
African migrants are being ‘allowed to die’ in Saudi Arabian detention camps to stop the spread of COVID-19. The inmates are suicidal and have declining mental health, as one reported that “he would kill himself if there was no escape.” #BlacklivesStillMatter#BlackLivesMatter pic.twitter.com/lJfwony4Ip
– الویش (@AlvishAamir) August 30, 2020
Another explained that the guards simply throw the bodies back “as if it were garbage”, while it is believed that at least one 16-year-old has already taken his own life, and can be seen hanging from a window, without being able to continue living downtown. Several of the migrants show scars on their backs and claim that the guards beat them and hurled racial insults at them. Other detention centers are said to house women.
READ: IOM: African Migrants Abused in Yemen
Most of the men are said to be Ethiopians who came to Saudi Arabia seeking to escape poverty in their home country, some arriving after being recruited by Saudi agents or human smugglers. Tens of thousands have made their way over the past decade, the report says. Some of the African migrants are from neighboring war-torn Yemen.
Photos emerging from detention centers in southern Saudi Arabia show authorities are subjecting migrants from the Horn of Africa to miserable, overcrowded and dehumanizing conditions without regard for their safety or dignity.
Adam Coogle, deputy director of Human Rights Watch in the Middle East, was quoted by the newspaper.
Following the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic in March, Saudi authorities feared that African migrants, often housed in overcrowded conditions, were carriers of the virus. Almost 3,000 were deported to Ethiopia in the first 10 days of April and a leaked UN memo said another 200,000 would follow, according to the report.
The pandemic is not the only reason given for the treatment of migrants. The “Saudiization” of the kingdom’s workforce, a policy introduced by Crown Prince Muhammad bin Salman, is also said to have sparked a backlash against African immigrants.
READ: Saudis dismiss top commander in Yemen war
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