Pictures showing African migrants detained in cells across Saudi Arabia to control the spread of COVID-19 have emerged.
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Images leaked to the Sunday Telegraph show the migrants packed in small cells with whip scars on their backs.
Prisoners say they are ‘treated like animals’ by Saudi guards who beat them with whips and electric cords and toss away the bodies of migrants who died of heatstroke or suicide.
One of the images released showed the migrants packed in a cell with poor sanitary facilities. The report said the toilets are overflowing with filth which washes into the cells, where the migrants are forced to sleep.
In another room, a corpse lay on the floor covered by a blanket after a migrant died of heatstroke – with others allegedly struggling for food and water.
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The migrants, mostly Ethiopian, have expressed regret at going to the country in search of better lives.
According to the Sunday Telegraph, one of the prisons is in Al Shumaisi near Mecca, while another is in Jazan near the border with Yemen.
The UN said in April that Saudi Arabia had deported 2,870 Ethiopian migrants to Addis Ababa since the start of the pandemic and are expected to deport another 200,000 migrants to the country.
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Saudi Arabia has officially recorded 314,821 coronavirus cases and 3,870 deaths, making it the worst-affected Middle East country apart from Iran.
