Migrants allege abuse, degrading conditions in Saudi deportation center
A new report from Human Rights Watch describes squalid conditions at a facility detaining mostly Ethiopian migrants in Riyadh.
Saudi Arabia is detaining hundreds of migrants in inhumane, degrading conditions at a deportation center in Riyadh, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said in a new report that alleges guards have also tortured and beaten detainees.
The US-based rights monitor said most of the migrants at the facility are from Ethiopia and were arrested for not holding valid Saudi residency permits. The report, published Tuesday, draws on phone conversations last month with seven Ethiopian migrants detained in the Riyadh center, as well as two Indian men who were held there prior to their deportation.
Those interviewed said they were kept for months in extremely overcrowded, squalid rooms with up to 350 other migrants. Cramped conditions and lack of soap or shower facilities increased the risk of the coronavirus spreading in the detention facility, interviewees said, adding that some detainees showed COVID-19 symptoms.
A video published by HRW showed migrants packed into a room without room to stretch their legs, some sleeping on the floor next to toilets or piles of trash.
