At least three detainees have died in Saudi Arabia in centers housing thousands of Ethiopian migrants, detained in conditions of
"unimaginable cruelty"
in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic, Amnesty International denounced in a report published on Friday, October 2.
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The NGO called on Saudi Arabia to release the migrants and facilitate their repatriation in conjunction with the Ethiopian authorities.
"Thousands of Ethiopian migrants who have left their homes in search of a better life have faced unimaginable cruelty
,
"
Amnesty researcher Marie Forestier said in a statement.
"We urge the Saudi authorities to immediately release all arbitrarily detained migrants and to dramatically improve the conditions of detention before more lives are lost,"
she added.
Nearly half a million Ethiopians were in Saudi Arabia before Saudi authorities launched a campaign against illegal immigration in 2017, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM).
Since then, an average of 10,000 Ethiopians have been deported each month, until Ethiopia this year called for a moratorium with the arrival of the Covid-19 pandemic.
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In August, the British newspaper
The Telegraph
published interviews with migrants in Saudi Arabia as well as photos and videos showing unsanitary detention centers.
In its report, Amnesty International describes dirty cells used as toilets, where migrants are held 24 hours a day, sometimes in chains.
All those interviewed say they know people who died in detention, reports the NGO, four of them say they saw the corpses of three people - an Ethiopian, a Yemeni and a Somali - in the al-Dayer camp in the province from Jizan (south).
As many as 16,000 Ethiopian migrants were held in these centers during this year, but that figure has declined, according to Ethiopian authorities.
Ethiopia planned to repatriate 2,000 detained migrants by mid-October.
But Addis Ababa seems to be careful not to upset Riyadh, a key investor in Ethiopia.
Last month, three migrants told AFP that visiting Ethiopian diplomats asked them to stop denouncing their conditions of detention.
