`` Les gardes jettent simplement les corps comme s'il s'agissait de déchets '', a déclaré l'un d'eux
L'Arabie saoudite, l'un des pays les plus riches du monde, maintient des centaines, voire des milliers de migrants africains enfermés dans des conditions odieuses qui rappellent les camps d'esclaves de la Libye dans le cadre d'une campagne pour arrêter la propagation de Covid-19, une enquête du Sunday Telegraph a a trouvé.
Des images graphiques de téléphones portables envoyées au journal par des migrants détenus à l'intérieur des centres de détention montrent des dizaines d'hommes émaciés paralysés par la chaleur arabe, torse nu en rangées serrées dans de petites pièces aux fenêtres à barreaux.
Une photo montre ce qui semble être un cadavre enveloppé dans une couverture violette et blanche au milieu d'eux. Ils disent que c'est le corps d'un migrant qui est mort d'un coup de chaleur et que d'autres ont à peine assez de nourriture et d'eau pour survivre.
Une autre image, trop graphique pour être publiée, montre un jeune homme africain pendu à une grille de fenêtre dans un mur intérieur carrelé. L'adolescent s'est suicidé après avoir perdu espoir, disent ses amis, dont beaucoup sont détenus depuis avril.
Les migrants, dont plusieurs affichent des cicatrices sur le dos, affirment être battus par des gardiens qui leur lancent des insultes raciales. «C’est un enfer ici. Nous sommes traités comme des animaux et battus chaque jour », a déclaré Abebe, un Éthiopien détenu dans l'un des centres depuis plus de quatre mois.
Les migrants sont marqués après avoir été battus par les gardiens
Les migrants sont marqués après avoir été battus par les gardes Crédit: Telegraph exclusif
«Si je vois qu'il n'y a pas d'échappatoire, je me suiciderai. D'autres l'ont déjà fait », a-t-il ajouté via un intermédiaire qui a pu communiquer sur un téléphone de contrebande.
«Mon seul crime est de quitter mon pays à la recherche d'une vie meilleure. Mais ils nous ont battus avec des fouets et des cordons électriques comme si nous étions des meurtriers.
Les images et les témoignages ont suscité l'indignation des militants des droits humains et ont une résonance particulière à la lumière des manifestations mondiales Black Lives Matter.
«Des photos émergeant des centres de détention du sud de l'Arabie saoudite montrent que les autorités de la région soumettent les migrants de la Corne de l'Afrique à des conditions sordides, surpeuplées et déshumanisantes sans égard pour leur sécurité ou leur dignité», a déclaré Adam Coogle, directeur adjoint de Human Rights Watch dans le Moyen-Orient, après avoir été montré les images par The Sunday Telegraph.
«Les centres de détention sordides du sud de l'Arabie saoudite sont bien en deçà des normes internationales. Pour un pays riche comme l'Arabie saoudite, il n'y a aucune excuse pour retenir les migrants dans des conditions aussi déplorables ", a ajouté M. Coogle.
L'Arabie saoudite, riche en pétrole, exploite depuis longtemps la main-d'œuvre migrante d'Afrique et d'Asie. En juin 2019, environ 6,6 millions de travailleurs étrangers représentaient environ 20% de la population de la nation du Golfe, la plupart occupant des emplois mal payés et souvent physiquement pénibles.
Les migrants travaillent principalement dans la construction et les rôles domestiques manuels que les ressortissants saoudiens préfèrent ne pas faire eux-mêmes. Beaucoup viennent d'Asie du Sud, mais un important contingent vient de la Corne de l'Afrique, qui se trouve de l'autre côté de la mer Rouge.
Les centres de détention identifiés par le Sunday Telegraph hébergent principalement des hommes éthiopiens et il y en aurait d'autres remplis de femmes.
Au cours de la dernière décennie, des dizaines de milliers de jeunes éthiopiens se sont rendus dans l'État du Golfe, souvent aidés par des agents de recrutement saoudiens et des trafiquants de personnes, dans le but d'échapper à la pauvreté chez eux.
Ils ont été pris au piège en partie à cause de la pandémie mais aussi de la «saudisation» de la main-d’œuvre du royaume, une politique introduite par Muhamad Bin Salman, le prince héritier qui a pris le pouvoir il y a trois ans.
Des dizaines d'hommes émaciés paralysés par la chaleur arabe dans l'un des centres de détention saoudiens
Des dizaines d'hommes émaciés paralysés par la chaleur arabe dans l'un des centres de détention d'Arabie saoudite Crédit: Telegraph exclusif
Les témoignages recueillis par The Sunday Telegraph directement auprès des migrants sur des chaînes cryptées sur les conditions dans lesquelles ils se trouvent maintenant sont déchirants.
«Beaucoup de détenus sont suicidaires ou souffrent de maladies mentales après avoir vécu cela pendant cinq mois», a déclaré l'un d'eux. "Les gardiens se moquent de nous, ils disent:" Votre gouvernement s'en fiche, que sommes-nous censés faire de vous? "
«Un jeune garçon d'environ seize ans a réussi à se pendre le mois dernier. Les gardiens jettent simplement les corps à l'extérieur comme s'il s'agissait de déchets », a déclaré un autre.
Lorsque la pandémie a frappé en mars, le gouvernement saoudien de la capitale Riyad craignait que les migrants, qui sont souvent hébergés dans des conditions de surpeuplement, agissent comme des vecteurs du virus.
Près de 3 000 Éthiopiens ont été expulsés par les services de sécurité saoudiens vers l'Éthiopie au cours des dix premiers jours d'avril et une note de l'ONU divulguée indiquait que 200 000 autres devaient suivre. Un moratoire a ensuite été imposé sur les expulsions après que la pression internationale a été exercée sur Riyad.
Le Sunday Telegraph a découvert que de nombreux migrants qui devaient être expulsés il y a cinq mois ont été laissés pourrir dans des centres de détention infestés de maladies. «On nous a laissé mourir ici», a déclaré l'un d'eux, qui a déclaré avoir été enfermé dans une pièce de la taille d'une salle de classe et ne pas être sorti depuis mars.
"Covid19? Qui sait?, A-t-il ajouté: «Il y a beaucoup de maladies ici. Tout le monde est malade ici; tout le monde a quelque chose. »
Les images sorties clandestinement montrent que bon nombre des détenus sont en proie à des infections cutanées défigurantes. Ils affirment n'avoir reçu aucun traitement médical.
«Nous mangeons un petit morceau de pain le jour et du riz le soir. Il n’ya presque pas d’eau et les toilettes débordent. Il déborde là où nous mangeons. L'odeur à laquelle nous nous habituons. Mais nous sommes plus d’une centaine dans une pièce et la chaleur nous tue », a déclaré un autre jeune éthiopien.
Un court clip vidéo sorti clandestinement montre plusieurs pièces couvertes de saleté provenant d'une toilette squat débordante. Un homme éthiopien peut être entendu crier: «Les toilettes sont bouchées. Nous avons essayé de les débloquer, mais nous n’y sommes pas parvenus. Nous vivons donc dans cette crasse, nous y dormons aussi.
«Pour [les Saoudiens] ou même pour Abiy, c’est comme si nous étions des fourmis. Quand nous mourons, c’est comme si une fourmi mourait, personne ne se soucie ou ne fait attention », a ajouté l’homme, faisant référence au Premier ministre éthiopien, lauréat du prix Nobel de la paix, Abiy Ahmed.
L'Arabie saoudite est profondément stratifiée par race et par distribution. Les migrants africains bénéficient de peu de droits légaux et nombre d'entre eux se plaignent d'exploitation, d'abus sexuels et raciaux de la part des employeurs.
De nouvelles lois limitant davantage les droits et les perspectives d'emploi des travailleurs étrangers ont été introduites en 2013 et les répressions se sont poursuivies sous le règne du jeune prince héritier Muhamad Bin Salman, qui a pris le pouvoir en 2017.
Le Sunday Telegraph a pu géolocaliser deux des centres. L'un est à Al Shumaisi, près de la ville sainte de La Mecque et l'autre à Jazan, une ville portuaire près du Yémen. On pense que d’autres abritent des milliers d’Éthiopiens.
Les migrants de chacun des centres ont déclaré qu'il y en avait des centaines dans chaque pièce. Les images satellite montrent qu'il y a plusieurs bâtiments dans les deux centres, ce qui signifie qu'il peut y avoir beaucoup plus de migrants dans chaque centre qui ne peuvent pas être contactés.
Plusieurs des migrants ont déclaré avoir été arrêtés de chez eux dans diverses villes saoudiennes avant d'être placés dans les camps. D'autres sont des réfugiés africains du Yémen ravagé par la guerre.
Plus tôt ce mois-ci, Human Rights Watch a rapporté que les forces houthies avaient utilisé Covid-19 comme prétexte pour expulser des milliers de migrants éthiopiens vers l'Arabie saoudite voisine.
Les témoignages recueillis par l'ONG indiquent que les Houthis ont tué des dizaines d'Éthiopiens et en ont forcé d'autres sous la menace d'une arme à travers la frontière saoudienne. Les gardes-frontières saoudiens ont ensuite tiré sur les migrants en fuite, tuant des dizaines d'autres.
«L'Arabie saoudite, un pays riche, détient depuis longtemps des migrants sans papiers, dont beaucoup originaires de la Corne de l'Afrique, dans des conditions tellement surpeuplées, insalubres et épouvantables que les migrants en ressortent souvent traumatisés ou malades», a déclaré M. Coogle.
"Il est juste de se demander si les autorités saoudiennes autorisent délibérément ces conditions de détention afin de punir les migrants", a-t-il ajouté.
Le Sunday Telegraph s'est adressé à l'ambassade d'Arabie saoudite à Londres pour obtenir des commentaires mais n'en avait reçu aucun au moment de mettre sous presse.
Un représentant du gouvernement éthiopien au Moyen-Orient a également été contacté sans succès pour commenter.
* Les noms des migrants ont été modifiés pour protéger leur identité
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'The guards just throw the bodies out back as if it was trash,' said one
Saudi Arabia, one of the wealthiest countries on earth, is keeping hundreds if not thousands of African migrants locked in heinous conditions reminiscent of Libya’s slave camps as part of a drive to stop the spread of Covid-19, an investigation by The Sunday Telegraph has found.
Graphic mobile phone images sent to the newspaper by migrants held inside the detention centres show dozens of emaciated men crippled by the Arabian heat lying shirtless in tightly packed rows in small rooms with barred windows.
One photo shows what appears to be a corpse swathed in a purple and white blanket in their midst. They say it is the body of a migrant who had died of heatstroke and that others are barely getting enough food and water to survive.
Another image, too graphic to publish, shows a young African man hanged from a window grate in an internal tiled wall. The adolescent killed himself after losing hope, say his friends, many of whom have been held in detention since April.
The migrants, several displaying scars on their backs, claim they are beaten by guards who hurl racial abuse at them. “It’s hell in here. We are treated like animals and beaten every day,” said Abebe, an Ethiopian who has been held at one of the centres for more than four months.
Graphic mobile phone images sent to the newspaper by migrants held inside the detention centres show dozens of emaciated men crippled by the Arabian heat lying shirtless in tightly packed rows in small rooms with barred windows.
One photo shows what appears to be a corpse swathed in a purple and white blanket in their midst. They say it is the body of a migrant who had died of heatstroke and that others are barely getting enough food and water to survive.
Another image, too graphic to publish, shows a young African man hanged from a window grate in an internal tiled wall. The adolescent killed himself after losing hope, say his friends, many of whom have been held in detention since April.
The migrants, several displaying scars on their backs, claim they are beaten by guards who hurl racial abuse at them. “It’s hell in here. We are treated like animals and beaten every day,” said Abebe, an Ethiopian who has been held at one of the centres for more than four months.
“If I see that there is no escape, I will take my own life. Others have already,” he added via an intermediary who was able to communicate on a smuggled phone.
“My only crime is leaving my country in search of a better life. But they beat us with whips and electric cords as if we were murderers.”
The images and testimony have sparked outrage among human rights activists, and have particular resonance in light of the global Black Lives Matter protests.
"Photos emerging from detention centres in southern Saudi Arabia show that authorities there are subjecting Horn of Africa migrants to squalid, crowded, and dehumanising conditions with no regard for their safety or dignity,” said Adam Coogle, deputy director of Human Rights Watch in the Middle East, after being shown the images by The Sunday Telegraph.
“The squalid detention centres in southern Saudi Arabia fall well short of international standards. For a wealthy country like Saudi Arabia, there’s no excuse for holding migrants in such deplorable conditions," Mr Coogle added.
Oil-rich Saudi Arabia has long exploited migrant labour from Africa and Asia. In June 2019, an estimated 6.6m foreign workers made up about 20 per cent of the Gulf nation’s population, most occupying low paid and often physically arduous jobs.
The migrants work mainly in construction and manual domestic roles that Saudi nationals prefer not to do themselves. Many are from South Asia, but a large contingent come from the Horn of Africa, which lies across the Red Sea.
The detention centres identified by The Sunday Telegraph house mainly Ethiopian men and there are said to be others packed with women.
Over the last decade, tens of thousands of young Ethiopians have made their way to the Gulf state, often aided by Saudi recruitment agents and people traffickers, in a bid to escape poverty back home.
They have been trapped partly as a result of the pandemic but also by the ‘Saudization’ of the kingdom’s workforce, a policy introduced by Muhamad Bin Salman, the Crown Prince who took power three years ago.
“My only crime is leaving my country in search of a better life. But they beat us with whips and electric cords as if we were murderers.”
The images and testimony have sparked outrage among human rights activists, and have particular resonance in light of the global Black Lives Matter protests.
"Photos emerging from detention centres in southern Saudi Arabia show that authorities there are subjecting Horn of Africa migrants to squalid, crowded, and dehumanising conditions with no regard for their safety or dignity,” said Adam Coogle, deputy director of Human Rights Watch in the Middle East, after being shown the images by The Sunday Telegraph.
“The squalid detention centres in southern Saudi Arabia fall well short of international standards. For a wealthy country like Saudi Arabia, there’s no excuse for holding migrants in such deplorable conditions," Mr Coogle added.
Oil-rich Saudi Arabia has long exploited migrant labour from Africa and Asia. In June 2019, an estimated 6.6m foreign workers made up about 20 per cent of the Gulf nation’s population, most occupying low paid and often physically arduous jobs.
The migrants work mainly in construction and manual domestic roles that Saudi nationals prefer not to do themselves. Many are from South Asia, but a large contingent come from the Horn of Africa, which lies across the Red Sea.
The detention centres identified by The Sunday Telegraph house mainly Ethiopian men and there are said to be others packed with women.
Over the last decade, tens of thousands of young Ethiopians have made their way to the Gulf state, often aided by Saudi recruitment agents and people traffickers, in a bid to escape poverty back home.
They have been trapped partly as a result of the pandemic but also by the ‘Saudization’ of the kingdom’s workforce, a policy introduced by Muhamad Bin Salman, the Crown Prince who took power three years ago.
The testimonies gathered by The Sunday Telegraph directly from migrants on encrypted channels about the conditions they now find themselves in are harrowing.
“Plenty of inmates are suicidal or suffering from mental illnesses as a result of living this for five months,” said one. “The guards mock us, they say ‘your government doesn’t care, what are we supposed to do with you?”
“A young boy, about sixteen, managed to hang himself last month. The guards just throw the bodies out back as if it was trash,” said another.
When the pandemic struck in March, the Saudi government in the capital Riyadh feared the migrants, who are often housed in overcrowded conditions, would act as vectors for the virus.
Almost 3,000 Ethiopians were deported by the Saudi security services back to Ethiopia in the first ten days of April and a leaked UN memo said a further 200,000 were to follow. A moratorium was then placed on the deportations after international pressure was brought to bear on Riyadh.
The Sunday Telegraph has found many of the migrants who were slated for deportation five months ago have been left to rot in disease-ridden detention centres. “We have been left to die here,” said one, who said he has been locked in a room the size of a school classroom and not been outside since March.
“Covid19? Who knows?, he added, “There are a lot of diseases here. Everyone is sick here; everyone has something.”
The images smuggled out show many of those held are plagued by disfiguring skin infections. They claim they have received no medical treatment.
“We eat a tiny piece of bread in the day and rice in the evening. There’s almost no water, and the toilets are overflowing. It spills over to where we eat. The smell, we grow accustomed to. But there’s over a hundred of us in a room, and the heat is killing us,” said another young Ethiopian man.
A short video clip smuggled out shows several rooms covered with filth from an overflowing squat toilet. One Ethiopian man can be heard shouting out: “The toilets are clogged. We tried unblocking them, but we’re unable to. So we live in this filth, we sleep in it too.”
“To [the Saudis] or even to Abiy, it’s like we’re ants. When we die, it’s as if an ant died, no one cares or pays attention,” the man added, referring to Ethiopia’s Nobel Peace Prize-winning Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed.
Saudi Arabia is deeply stratified by race and cast. African migrants enjoy few legal rights and many complain of exploitation, sexual and racial abuse from employers.
New laws further limiting the rights and employment prospects of foreign labourers were introduced in 2013 and crackdowns have continued under the rule of the young Crown Prince Muhamad Bin Salman, who took power in 2017.
The Sunday Telegraph was able to geolocate two of the centres. One is in Al Shumaisi, near the holy city of Mecca and one is in Jazan, a port town near Yemen. There are believed to be others housing thousands of Ethiopians.
Migrants in each of the centres said there were hundreds of them in each room. Satellite imagery shows there are several buildings at both centres, meaning there may be far more migrants in each centre who are uncontactable.
Several of the migrants said they had been rounded up from their homes in various Saudi Arabian cities before being placed in the camps. Others are African refugees from war-torn Yemen.
Earlier this month, Human Rights Watch reported that Houthi forces used Covid-19 as a pretext to expel thousands of Ethiopian migrants into neighbouring Saudi Arabia.
Testimonies gathered by the NGO say that the Houthis killed dozens of Ethiopians and forced others at gunpoint over the Saudi border. Saudi border guards then fired on the fleeing migrants, killing dozens more.
“Saudi Arabia, a wealthy country, has long held undocumented migrants including many from the Horn of Africa in conditions that are so crowded, unsanitary, and appalling that migrants often emerge traumatised or sick,” said Mr Coogle.
“It’s fair to question whether Saudi authorities are purposefully allowing these detention conditions to exist in order to punish migrants,” he added.
The Sunday Telegraph approached the Saudi Arabian embassy in London for comment but had not received any at the time of going to press.
A representative of the Ethiopian government in the Middle East was also unsuccessfully approached for comment.
*Migrants' names have been changed to protect their identity
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“Plenty of inmates are suicidal or suffering from mental illnesses as a result of living this for five months,” said one. “The guards mock us, they say ‘your government doesn’t care, what are we supposed to do with you?”
“A young boy, about sixteen, managed to hang himself last month. The guards just throw the bodies out back as if it was trash,” said another.
When the pandemic struck in March, the Saudi government in the capital Riyadh feared the migrants, who are often housed in overcrowded conditions, would act as vectors for the virus.
Almost 3,000 Ethiopians were deported by the Saudi security services back to Ethiopia in the first ten days of April and a leaked UN memo said a further 200,000 were to follow. A moratorium was then placed on the deportations after international pressure was brought to bear on Riyadh.
The Sunday Telegraph has found many of the migrants who were slated for deportation five months ago have been left to rot in disease-ridden detention centres. “We have been left to die here,” said one, who said he has been locked in a room the size of a school classroom and not been outside since March.
“Covid19? Who knows?, he added, “There are a lot of diseases here. Everyone is sick here; everyone has something.”
The images smuggled out show many of those held are plagued by disfiguring skin infections. They claim they have received no medical treatment.
“We eat a tiny piece of bread in the day and rice in the evening. There’s almost no water, and the toilets are overflowing. It spills over to where we eat. The smell, we grow accustomed to. But there’s over a hundred of us in a room, and the heat is killing us,” said another young Ethiopian man.
A short video clip smuggled out shows several rooms covered with filth from an overflowing squat toilet. One Ethiopian man can be heard shouting out: “The toilets are clogged. We tried unblocking them, but we’re unable to. So we live in this filth, we sleep in it too.”
“To [the Saudis] or even to Abiy, it’s like we’re ants. When we die, it’s as if an ant died, no one cares or pays attention,” the man added, referring to Ethiopia’s Nobel Peace Prize-winning Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed.
Saudi Arabia is deeply stratified by race and cast. African migrants enjoy few legal rights and many complain of exploitation, sexual and racial abuse from employers.
New laws further limiting the rights and employment prospects of foreign labourers were introduced in 2013 and crackdowns have continued under the rule of the young Crown Prince Muhamad Bin Salman, who took power in 2017.
The Sunday Telegraph was able to geolocate two of the centres. One is in Al Shumaisi, near the holy city of Mecca and one is in Jazan, a port town near Yemen. There are believed to be others housing thousands of Ethiopians.
Migrants in each of the centres said there were hundreds of them in each room. Satellite imagery shows there are several buildings at both centres, meaning there may be far more migrants in each centre who are uncontactable.
Several of the migrants said they had been rounded up from their homes in various Saudi Arabian cities before being placed in the camps. Others are African refugees from war-torn Yemen.
Earlier this month, Human Rights Watch reported that Houthi forces used Covid-19 as a pretext to expel thousands of Ethiopian migrants into neighbouring Saudi Arabia.
Testimonies gathered by the NGO say that the Houthis killed dozens of Ethiopians and forced others at gunpoint over the Saudi border. Saudi border guards then fired on the fleeing migrants, killing dozens more.
“Saudi Arabia, a wealthy country, has long held undocumented migrants including many from the Horn of Africa in conditions that are so crowded, unsanitary, and appalling that migrants often emerge traumatised or sick,” said Mr Coogle.
“It’s fair to question whether Saudi authorities are purposefully allowing these detention conditions to exist in order to punish migrants,” he added.
The Sunday Telegraph approached the Saudi Arabian embassy in London for comment but had not received any at the time of going to press.
A representative of the Ethiopian government in the Middle East was also unsuccessfully approached for comment.
*Migrants' names have been changed to protect their identity
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