"Ethiopian authorities are persecuting Tigrayans deported from Saudi Arabia by wrongfully detaining and forcibly disappearing them," HRW researcher Nadia Hardman said. "Saudi Arabia should stop contributing to this abuse by ending the forced return of Tigrayans to Ethiopia and allowing them to seek asylum or resettlement in third countries." Trhas, a 33-year-old woman expelled from Saudi Arabia in December 2020, said she was held with 700 other deportees and then put on a bus. Last year, Addis Ababa said it would help repatriate 40,000 of its nationals in Saudi Arabia. About 31.5% of the people returning to Ethiopia from Saudi Arabia between April 2017 and August 2021 intended to return to Tigray, according to UN data.

Source: Ethiopian News January 06, 2022 00:01 UTC