Some of the detainees said they had been tortured or beaten by guards with rubber-coated metal rods. The detainees said no measures were taken to minimize the spread of Covid-19, and some inside the facility had shown symptoms of the virus. “Saudi Arabia, one of the world’s richest countries, has no excuse for detaining migrant workers in appalling conditions, in the middle of a health pandemic, for months on end,” said Nadia Hardman, refugee and migrant rights researcher at HRW. The Saudi government media office did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment. Foreign workers, who form the backbone of Gulf economies, account for some 12.6 million of Saudi Arabia’s total population of 33.4 million, according to the latest available government data from 2018.

Source: Dhaka Tribune December 16, 2020 14:36 UTC