The
International Organization for Migration (IOM) has repatriated over
350 Ethiopian migrants from Saudi-Arabia over the past few weeks.
Three of these returnees told their horrific ordeals in Saudi Arabia
to Abebayehu Gebyaw of Ethiopia's Amharic weekly AddisAdmas. Here's
the translation of the Amharic version which was published on
November, 18/2013.
“I'd
never go back [to Saudi], even if they say a gold is raining there”,
Abdu Indris.
“Ethiopians
are being incarcerated in Saudi prisons”, Indris Mohammed.
“They
[Saudis] consider Abeshas (alternative term for Ethiopians) as cheap
commodity.”, Indris Yousuf.
In
the last 10 days persecution of Ethiopian migrant workers in Saudi
Arabia has escalated. Men and women are forced from their homes by
mobs of civilians and dragged through the streets of Riyadh and
Jeddah. Distressing videos of Ethiopian men being mercilessly beaten,
kicked and punched have circulated the Internet and triggered
worldwide protests by members of the Ethiopian diaspora as well as
outraged civilians in Ethiopia. Women report being raped, many
repeatedly, by vigilantes and Saudi police. Ethiopian Satellite
Television (ESAT), has received reports of fifty
The following graphics shows the various types of violence (rape, involuntary servitude, murder, assault, battery, suicide, physical abuse, etc) against Ethiopian migrant workers in the Middle-eastern countries from October 1999 - October 2013. This is just the tip of the iceberg; 86 cases were verified and approved so far but this data doesn't include hundreds if not thousands of nameless, faceless Ethiopians who had lost their lives, crippled, deformed, raped disappeared and imprisoned in various prisons of Oil & gas rich countries. Courtesy of this data is to domestichelpabuse.com I'd like to thank them for their well researched and detailed data at this critical time where the lives of our compatriots are being at stake in the middle-eastern countries especially Saudi-Arabia. This infographics is very interactive and includes various inputs such as descriptions of the violence (name of the victims, the country where they were abused, time, date and year of the violence etc). There is a small button on the right side next to the the first legend where you can drag it or click the backward and forwards buttons to read details of the abuses. You can sort the information which you want to see by clicking on the legends on the right-hand side or by clicking on the maps and then choose to filter the data you want to explore. Please share this info and spread the word about this barbaric crimes against defenseless and helpless Ethiopians in the middle-east so that the world to act and safeguard the well-being of our citizens. If you have questions regarding this infographics, please don't hesitate to send them via e-mail or write them on the comment section at the bottom of this post.
Saudi-Arabia, one of the major destinations for millions of desperate migrant workers from Asia and Africa, intensified its war against Ethiopians over the past weeks. Saudi's security police and the Shabab(youth) vigilantes are on rampage killing, torturing, raping, imprisoning and starving these helpless and defenseless Ethiopians. Large numbers of Ethiopians were killed, kidnapped, tortured and unaccounted for over the couple of days, since the Saudi government started rounding off undocumented migrant workers. Against this background Ethiopia's Riyadh consulate announced yesterday that it was shut down indefinitely. This is how much the rulers at Arat killo Palace cared and concerned about their powerless nationals whose safety and security is at stake. Thousands of these compatriots lack papers to stay in Saudi and/or repatriate back home; the consulate added salt to their wounds by abandoning
them in the hands of heartless and barbaric Saudi police and its
militia. If this is not treason, then what would be? The women in the
following video were kidnapped and are being gang-raped by twenty Saudi men who killed their
Over
300 Ethiopians who reside in Sweden went to street today here in
Stockholm, to express their anger and sadness over the recent
killings, rape and arbitrary detention of migrant Ethiopians in Saudi
Arabia. The 2 hours protest took place in front the Saudi Embassy in
the afternoon and the demonstrators urged the Saudi government to
stop the unprecedented violence and abuse which mainly target
innocent Ethiopian migrant workers in that country. The protesters
were chanting slogans such as 'shame on you'; 'we need justice';
'stop raping our sisters'; 'stop killing our sisters and brothers'
among others. Saudi Embassy officials refused to accept a letter
which was prepared by the organizers to be submitted to the Saudi
King. Ethiopians who allegedly don't have residence/work permit have
been rounded up and are now concentrated in the desert. The atrocity
against Ethiopians detained in different concentration camps in Saudi
Arabia has been going on for the past five days by security
authorities and vigilantes who took the law into their hands. Two
Ethiopians have been allegedly killed yesterday during a scuffle of
separating a husband and wife. The Ethiopian government which is supposed to protect the security and safety of Ethiopians at home and abroad has done little or nothing to stop the ongoing violence against its thousands of citizens in the middle-eastern countries. Even though, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs claimed the violence against Ethiopians toned down after discussion with its Saudi counterparts, Ethiopians who reside in the petrol-rich country refuted this claim as baseless and intended to repair the damage. Some of these Ethiopians who are themselves in the various concentration camps in Saudi deserts told Ethiopian Satellite TV (ESAT) that, neither the government nor the Ethiopian Embassy in Saudi doing nothing to rescue their lives and bring them home safely.
