The Ethiopian migrants waiting on Saudi Arabia’s death row
Amanuel wakes up every day not knowing if this will be his last day. A knock on the cell door could mean his time is up; No farewell speech, no last meal. Executions in Saudi Arabia often occur without warning.
“I’m a dead man walking,” he says. “I don’t eat or drink water after my friends are executed.”
Amanuel is the nickname of a young prisoner who has been in prison for several years. CNN obtained his account from Khamis Mushait prison in southwestern Saudi Arabia. CNN is not naming him for his own protection.
He is among about 60 Ethiopians sentenced to death in a single cell at Khamis Mushait on drug-related charges, with more being held in other cells there, according to human rights groups.
“These are not isolated cases,” said Maya Foa, chief executive of human rights group Reprieve. “There is a clear pattern in Saudi authorities targeting vulnerable migrants. Often their real ‘crime’ appears to be crossing the border in search of a better life.”
CNN also heard from relatives of three other men sentenced to death in Saudi Arabia on similar charges. All said they learned of the arrests only weeks after the sentencing, through word of mouth or social contacts, not from Ethiopian or Saudi officials.
“What I pray for and what I need from the world is to put positive pressure on the Saudi government to reconsider this decision,” said Salam, the brother of one of the men, who used an alias to protect his family. “Please Saudi government, we ask for mercy on my brother and others in a similar situation.”
According to Saudi records compiled by NGOs, a total of 356 people were executed in Saudi Arabia last year; This is the highest figure in recent history. Of these, 240 were convicted of drug crimes, mostly foreigners. Two years earlier, in 2023, the same observers recorded two such executions in the entire year. The number of people executed for non-fatal drug crimes this year reached 71; The largest number of foreign nationals are Ethiopians.
Saudi lawyer Taha al-Hajji, who lives abroad and is legal director of the European Saudi Organization for Human Rights, highlighted serious concerns about the legal process in the kingdom.
“Capital cases in Saudi Arabia routinely fail to meet even minimal fairness guarantees,” he said. “Defendants are not provided with legal representation and adequate translation, leading to migrants being convicted and sentenced to death without understanding the process – often based on torture ‘confessions’.
“This is not justice; this is state violence inflicted on defenseless people.”
CNN reported a similar case in Saudi Arabia’s Tabuk prison in November; Here, an Egyptian fisherman was sentenced to death after being detained on drug smuggling charges.
Human rights advocates say Khamis Mushait, where Amanuel is being held, has many stories similar to his.
A job that led to death row
Amanuel said he fled Ethiopia’s Tigray region during the epidemic. country’s civil warand was stranded in Yemen for two years before eventually crossing over to Saudi Arabia. He says he worked as a shepherd there for three months.
When that ended, his employer, a Saudi national, offered him something else; The job of transporting goods from one place to another, Amanuel says he is not keen on this offer. “The men who offered me this job were Saudis. I trusted them.”
While making a delivery a few years ago, he told CNN he was arrested after police found marijuana in his vehicle.
“We thought we were just carrying some normal stuff,” he said.
He says he was then beaten and kicked with an electric cable. Whatever documents were in a language he could not read were placed in front of him for him to sign. He says no lawyers or anyone from the Ethiopian embassy in Riyadh showed up.
Only at the last of his three hearings was there an interpreter; It was a short session where the judge read the sentence. It was said that there was no objection. Amanuel was sentenced to death.
A satellite image shows Khamis Mushait prison in Saudi Arabia on March 1. -Airbus
He was persecuted for his faith
Amanuel, a Christian, no longer wears a cross for fear of persecution and was once beaten for it. “He tied my hands behind my back, beat me and left me in the sun for three hours.” He says he can no longer fulfill his faith in any way.
He says four of his cellmates attempted to take their own lives. Each time, others in the cell intervened to save them.
Saudi Arabia has not yet responded to CNN’s request for comment on foreign prisoners held in prisons on drug-related charges, the conditions in which they are held, their access to legal representation and the number of those executed.
Two weeks ago, five of Amanuel’s cellmates were executed. “First they called out two names, then they called out five more. Then the first two came back. The other five didn’t come,” says Amanuel.
Saudi officials said in a public statement that the men “undertook to jointly smuggle marijuana into the Kingdom… the investigation resulted in charges being brought against them for committing the crime.” They were referred to the competent court… The decision became final after the appeal and subsequent approval by the Supreme Court. The statement included the following: “The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is determined to protect the security of its citizens and residents from the drug scourge and to impose the harshest penalties provided by law against those who traffic and promote drugs.”
“(After the execution) a guard passed the block and spoke to a Saudi prisoner, who put his finger to his neck and signed to us what happened. We had to inform the families ourselves,” Amanuel told CNN. Amanuel told CNN.
However, he did not tell his mother or father that he was sentenced to death. “I don’t want the news to make the news about what killed them.” He says only his distant relatives understand the seriousness of his situation, and he asks only one thing from them: “Pray for me.”
The road to Saudi Arabia
Amanuel’s story, hundreds of thousands of immigrants every year. Most are Ethiopians who left the Horn of Africa, one of the poorest regions in the world. drought And armed conflict – Looking for a job in Saudi Arabia. The bilateral labor agreement, a formal agreement governing how Ethiopians can legally work in the kingdom, has opened legal pathways for migration, but many still cross irregularly.
“This is the largest migration route on the continent in absolute terms,” said Ayla Bonfiglio, head of the Mixed Migration Center (MMC) for Eastern and Southern Africa. “We estimate that more than 100,000 Ethiopian migrants cross into Saudi Arabia each year, and this is likely an undercount as most of our data comes from those seized in Yemen.”
Ethiopian migrants seeking political asylum or simply a better life walk along the highway leading to Saadah province to cross into Saudi Arabia on the outskirts of Sana’a, Yemen, on August 23, 2023. – Mohammed Hamoud/Getty Images
The United Nations’ International Organization for Migration (IOM) describes the same corridor, which passes through Djibouti and then extends by boat to Yemen via the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait or the Gulf of Aden, as one of the busiest and riskiest migration routes in the world.
The journey is dangerous. “Those who have some level of resources to transit through Djibouti pay smugglers to transport them by car or truck at night,” Bonfiglio said. “Those who do not have to walk sometimes 200 to 250 kilometers (124 to 155 miles) in extreme heat hope that their families can send money to pay smugglers in (the port city) Obock before they arrive.”
For many, surviving the journey is only the beginning of the ordeal.
Families interviewed by CNN in Tigray said their relatives were held for ransom by unknown groups during their journey to Yemen. The kidnappers forced them to take out loans to secure their release.
“He was trapped and we borrowed money to get him released. We haven’t repaid the families yet,” a relative said.
This is a debt that many migrants never escape, according to Surafel Getahun, who studies irregular migration from Ethiopia. He explained that migrants are often pressured or coerced into carrying hashish, or khat, a plant-based stimulant, into Saudi Arabia to repay smugglers. Khat is legal in much of East Africa but banned in the kingdom, a distinction exploited by traffickers.
“Migrants are unaware that it (khat) is banned in Saudi Arabia,” Getahun said, adding that “smugglers take advantage of this to transport it to them without disclosing the serious risks.” Some of them were later caught and arrested.
Traders carry khat branches at a khat market in Aweday, Ethiopia, on April 15, 2024. The plant-based recreational stimulant is commonly chewed in the Horn of Africa. – Michele Spatari/AFP/Getty Images
Against this backdrop, Girmachew Adugna, an expert on migration from Ethiopia and the Horn of Africa, questions the use of the death penalty for non-violent drug crimes. Ethiopian immigrants are particularly vulnerable because language barriers are limited, he said. Access to legal aid and allegations that some were forced to transport drugs by traffickers may undermine their rights to a fair trial.
He said direct talks between Ethiopia and Saudi Arabia could help ensure Ethiopian immigrants receive fair trials and legal protection.
The two countries have previously cooperated on migration. Saudi Arabia and Ethiopia carried out large-scale repatriations between 2017 and 2022, with approximately 500,000 Ethiopians deported during that period, according to Bonfiglio.
In 2022, the two governments agreed to repatriate more than 100,000 Ethiopians living without legal status in Saudi Arabia; many of them were held in detention centers that human rights groups described as overcrowded and abusive. At the time, IOM estimated that there were 750,000 Ethiopians in Saudi Arabia, of whom approximately 450,000 were irregular entries.
For some of those held in Saudi Arabian prisons, signs of Ethiopia’s intervention will bring hope and potentially make the difference between life and death.
Amanuel said Ethiopian diplomatic representatives visited the prison last month and promised that his case would be reviewed. Despite this, the Ethiopian government has not openly objected to Saudi Arabia regarding Ethiopians detained on drug charges in its prisons.
Ethiopia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs declined to comment to CNN about individual cases, citing the sensitivity of ongoing legal processes. A written statement said it maintained “regular communication and constructive interaction” with Saudi officials and referred to 1,971 Ethiopian nationals who “benefited from royal pardons”, but did not say whether these included any of the men sentenced to death for drug offences.
Saudi officials have not yet responded to CNN’s request for comment.
Amanuel says all he can do for now is knock on the door where he knows he’ll come without warning.
“I don’t know exactly when that will happen. It could be tomorrow,” he said. “Every time they knock on the door, I feel like it might be my turn.”
Niguse Desta contributed to this report from northern Ethiopia
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