Disturbing photographs display African migrants stuffed into grubby cells in Saudi Arabia as part of the country's alleviation of the prevalence of COVID-19.
The photos taken from inside the detention centers by prisoners show numerous men lying shirtless in the windowless rooms in searing Middle East heat.
Treated Like Animals
According to prisoners, they are treated like animals by Saudi Arabian guards who hit them with whips and electrical cords. Then they throw away bodies of migrants who die of heatstroke or suicide.
Saudi Arabia was under searing for the deportation of thousands of illegal migrants upon the arrival of the novel coronavirus pandemic. The country has since then been piling them in prisons to stop the prevalence of the illness in their overcrowded homes, reported MENAFN.
Inhumane Photographs
Migrants appeared to be lying almost naked on the floor of a grubby cell with dozens packed into adjacent rooms, one photograph captured on a smuggled phone displayed.
One appalling image appears to display a corpse concealed by a blanket. The migrant who captured the photograph claimed that the man died of heatstroke. He added that other prisoners are barely provided adequate food and water for survival, reported The Sun.
Another photograph too sensitive to issue displays an African man dangling from a window grate. The young man committed suicide after losing hope, according to his friends. Many of them have been held in confinement since April, reported Telegraph.
Other photographs display large scars on the backs of two men.
It is alleged that prisoners are racially abused by guards as well.
Abebe, an Ethiopian who has been confined at one of the centers for over four months, described the experience as hell and that they are dehumanized like animals and whipped daily. If he sees that there is no other option to escape, he plans to take his own life as others have done.
He stated, "My only crime is leaving my country in search of a better life. But they beat us with whips and electric cords as if we were murderers."
They are left to die in the place, according to another migrant. He added that he had not ventured beyond the area of a classroom since March.
Other people indicate that they have not been provided medical treatment as several suffer from painful skin infections and the grime from the toilets was overflowing into their cells.
One prisoner said the guards toss away the bodies out back as if they were trash.
The disturbing photographs have been denounced by human rights organizations. They are said to have particular resonance in the advent of the Black Lives Matter movement protests across the globe.
"Photos emerging from detention centres in southern Saudi Arabia show that authorities there are subjecting Horn of Africa migrants to squalid, crowded, and dehumanising conditions with no regard for their safety or dignity," according to Adam Coogle, deputy director of Human Rights Watch in the Middle East.
