Telegraph: International condemnation of Saudi Arabia after the disclosure of horrific violations in immigration detention centers

The Daily Telegraph said that Saudi Arabia agreed to conduct an investigation after an investigation by the "Sunday Telegraph" revealed that this Gulf country is detaining hundreds, if not thousands, of African migrants in cramped and unsanitary detention centers, as part of a campaign to stop the spread of the Corona virus.

The newspaper stated that the conditions in these centers are so bad that people die, and that the smuggled photos have likened those centers to slave detention centers.

Yesterday, the newspaper published video photos from inside a detention center, one of which shows sewage seeping onto the ground in an area where detainees are forced to sleep and eat.

One of them asks for the video, "Please help us," and another says, "Watch this and do something for us."

She also indicated that the investigation, which was published last Sunday, sparked a wave of condemnation and condemnation around the world, from human rights groups, politicians and activists, "Black lives matter."

The British government said it was "extremely concerned" and the official opposition, represented by the shadow foreign minister, Stephen Doughty, called on the Saudi authorities to take immediate action.

"The Saudi government must immediately end this heinous practice, and allow access to independent health and human rights experts. It is important that the status of these detainees is in line with international immigration law, and that they are treated with the dignity and compassion they deserve," Doughty said.

"The government ministers should raise this worrying situation immediately with their counterparts in Saudi Arabia, especially in light of the (this country's) historically poor record in protecting and supporting human rights," he added.

The newspaper suggested that the story sparked outrage throughout Africa and the Middle East, and was featured clearly on Al-Jazeera and other Arab media channels.

A spokesperson for the United Nations International Migration Organization in Geneva said they were "deeply concerned" about "horrific" images of Ethiopian migrants being held in Saudi Arabia, apparently in "inhuman" conditions.

According to the newspaper, conditions in these centers are bad, as people die, and smuggled images have compared these centers to slave detention centers (Watch-Agencies)

The organization added that the overcrowded and dirty centers raise human rights concerns, and warned that they could be a "hotspot" for deadly diseases.

The newspaper had located two detention centers, and yesterday published satellite images showing their exact location, after the migrants sent horrific pictures taken with mobile phones from inside showing dozens of men with gaunt bodies and the intensity of the heat impeded them to move, as they lay half naked in crowded lines in Small rooms with windows with bars.

Many of them have not seen the sun for 5 months since Saudi security forces encircled them last April as part of a campaign to stop the spread of Corona.

For its part, Saudi Arabia, a member of the Human Rights Council, informed the "Daily Telegraph" in a statement that "the pictures are of course shocking and unacceptable to us as a country."

She added that the government "is looking into the status of all official government facilities in light of the allegations."

The newspaper indicated that Riyadh sought to shift part of the blame for the scandal to Ethiopia, the homeland of these detainees, saying, "We believe that there are about 20 thousand Ethiopian immigrants who recently crossed into Saudi Arabia through Yemen, and there are negotiations to return them to their homeland with the Ethiopian government."

"Unfortunately, the Ethiopian authorities refused to re-enter them, claiming that they were not able to provide adequate quarantine facilities upon their arrival," Saudi Arabia added.

But Tzion Tiklu, Minister of Economic Diplomacy and Ethiopian Diaspora Affairs, denied that the government had any knowledge of the horrific conditions in which migrants were being held, yet it did not issue any official response to the conditions of these migrants in the centers.

The newspaper concluded that it had contacted the African Union, which had long been criticized for standing with the "tyrants" of the continent more than the Africans themselves, but it did not receive any comment.