Thousands of ethnic Tigrayans deported from Saudi Arabia have been arbitrarily detained and forcibly disappeared in Ethiopia, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said on Wednesday. "Ethiopian authorities are persecuting Tigrayans deported from Saudi Arabia by wrongfully detaining and forcibly disappearing them," said Nadia Hardman, refugee and migrant rights researcher at HRW. HRW interviewed 23 Tigrayans— 20 men and three women — who were deported from Saudi Arabia in 2021. Conditions in Saudi Arabia were not much betterThere are about 6.3 million foreign workers in Saudi Arabia including thousands of Ethiopian citizens who have migrated to Saudi Arabia to seek work over the years. In January 2021, Ethiopia's government said it would repatriate 40,000 of its nationals from Saudi Arabia.

Source: Ethiopian News January 05, 2022 11:44 UTC