Saudi Arabia deports hundreds of Ethiopians after months-long detention, torture

Saudi Arabian authorities have deported hundreds of Ethiopian migrant workers after keeping them for months in detention centers across the oil-rich kingdom under conditions so degrading that they amount to ill-treatment.

According to a report published by ‘The New Khalij’ news website, about 900 people, including many mothers with children, arrived at Addis Ababa Bole International Airport earlier this week.

“The returnees were assisted, registered and, among other things, provided with food, temporary accommodation, medical assistance and counseling services,” the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said in a statement.

The Ethiopian Foreign Ministry announced it will return about 100,000 of its citizens from Saudi Arabia within the next seven to eleven months, under an agreement recently concluded between the two countries.