Exploited, locked up, abandoned
Hundreds of men are lying on the bare floor, many naked from the waist up. The men have an apathetic air, and some of them have scars on their backs. According to the British broadsheet Daily Telegraph, these photos were taken in Saudi Arabia, one of the richest countries in the world, by young Ethiopian migrants who came to the Gulf to work. Now they are no longer needed and are being held captive in living quarters that resemble internment camps.
"It is hell; we are treated like animals and beaten every day," reports one young Ethiopian. Some of the inmates have committed suicide, he says, the few toilets that are available are flooded with faeces, and there is hardly any drinking water. The Ethiopian Consul General in Jeddah has reported that Saudi Arabia has 53 prisons where Ethiopians are being held. One of them houses as many as 16,000 people.