ETHIOPIANS deported from Saudi Arabia in a new crackdown have alleged that they were abused by police while detained in the Gulf kingdom.

Returnees told reporters upon their arrival in Addis Ababa that Saudi police took their possessions and dished them out among themselves. Some said that police shot and wounded migrants who tried to flee the round-ups.

“The prison cell I was put into was so dirty that some of us were severely sick. It was like a toilet,” said former teacher Sadiq Ahmed, who went to Saudi Arabia five years ago and was locked up for almost two weeks.