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ETHIOPIANS deported from Saudi Arabia in a new crackdown have alleged that they were abused by police while detained in the Gulf kingdom.
Returnees told reporters upon their arrival in Addis Ababa that Saudi police took their possessions and dished them out among themselves. Some said that police shot and wounded migrants who tried to flee the round-ups.
“The prison cell I was put into was so dirty that some of us were severely sick. It was like a toilet,” said former teacher Sadiq Ahmed, who went to Saudi Arabia five years ago and was locked up for almost two weeks.
“As if this was not enough, we were robbed of our belongings. I came here with nothing. I know lots of people who went insane because of this torment.”
About 50,000 people have been deported from Saudi Arabia since the latest wave of deportations began in mid-November.
Saudi authorities claim that there are about 250,000 undocumented migrants in the country. Roughly three-quarters of those who have entered the country illegally are from Yemen, where Saudi Arabia is waging a bloody British and US-backed war, and most of the rest from Ethiopia.
