A document leaked to The Telegraph shows that the Ethiopian government tried to silence hundreds of its own citizens stuck in hellish detention centres in Saudi Arabia and cover-up allegations of horrendous abuse.
The official document, which bears the stamp of the Ethiopian consulate in the city of Jeddah, warned Ethiopians of “legal repercussions” if they continued to upload photos and videos from the detention centres on social media.
The statement warned migrants to stop sharing their accounts of the horrific conditions because it was causing “distress for families and the greater Ethiopian community.”
The damning revelations come after an investigation by The Sunday Telegraph revealed that Saudi Arabia is keeping hundreds if not thousands of African migrants locked in detention centres flooded with raw sewage as part of a drive to stop the spread of coronavirus.
Conditions in the centres are so bad that people are dying of heatstroke, disease or by suicide. Images sent to The Telegraph on encrypted channels have been shared around the world and compared to slave camps.