Human rights groups are calling on Gulf states to release peaceful political activists from jail and scale back detention of migrant workers, to limit the spread of coronavirus.
Hundreds of human rights defenders, peaceful activists and opposition members have been in jail for years in the six Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states.
The region, which takes in Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates, also detains thousands of expatriate workers for violating strict residency regulations.
“As the coronavirus pandemic rages on, Gulf states should take prompt measures to protect the health and rights of detainees and staff in immigration detention centres, including by releasing people and finding alternatives to detention,” Human Rights Watch says in a statement.
“Many migrant workers in the Gulf, especially those who are undocumented through no fault of their own or have fled unscrupulous employers, are in prolonged pre-deportation detention in overcrowded, unhygienic conditions,” says the group’s deputy Middle East director Michael Page.
— AFP
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