Saudi Arabia: where slavery and public executions still exist

(Medeshi)-During many  years of my service for various companies in Saudi Arabia, I have observed the magnitude of abuse against the African blacks by the Royal family, the rich and the tribal leaders.
Places like Mecca which is the holiest city in the Muslim world hosts more than 80,000 black of African origin who were mainly brought to the Arabian Peninsula by the slave traders. Other cities like Riyadh , Jubail , Jeddha and Jizan have also huge numbers of black slaves from Africa dispersed throughout the Arabian house holds.

Till this date blacks are owned in places like Riyadh , the capital of Saudi Arabia, mainly by the Saudi Royal Family. The current estimated number of the Saudi Royal family is around 10,000 and almost all of these princes or princesses own one or more slaves in their palaces. These captives have for a long time known nothing but serving their Arab masters and seem to have accepted their current status because of the consequences of any uprising or demand for their freedom. Hilatul Al Abiid (or the slave quarters) is a huge district in Riyadh which is characterised by the sale of slaves throughout the Arabian Peninsula during the 19th century slave trade . 

The main ports of arrival for these slaves from Africa were Jubail – where you can still see the remnants of the slave trade – and Jeddah in the Red sea. Again till this date,  Saudi Arabian government turns a blind eye to the plight of these Africans and therefore , abuse and maltreatment of these people has become common and rampant. An example of how these Africans are treated is that those blacks who work in the Holy Haram are often castrated to eliminate any sexual desire  to make them devoted to the work in the Holy mosque. Another example of castration is also among those who are owned by the Royal Family. Slaves who work in the Royal palaces are mainly castrated in order to prevent their sexual contact with the Arab women who live in / or within the vicinity of the palaces.

I have personally come across a verbal abuse by a prince who- after seeing me coloured -  threatened that he could buy me with money after I confronted him on returning a die-cast Ferrari car worth $500 ( Metal Model)  which was damaged after he could not assemble it properly . This was during my service as a store manager at Toyland Company in the late nineties  in Ruwais , Jeddah - few hundred meters away from the American consulate. 

Somalis who have in the late nineties  fled to Saudi Arabia from the civil war  in their country have paid high price  in lives beyond slavery . Many have been beheaded in public for petty thefts to scare and set example for other immigrants and workers  from the third World  and also for  the ordinary Saudis .

Amensty Internaltioan has  reported on the execution of helpless Somalis in Saudi Arabia :

" On the morning of 4 April 2005, six young Somali nationals were taken from their prison cells in Jeddah, western Saudi Arabia, and beheaded in public.

Announcing the executions, the Saudi Arabian Ministry of Interior stated that the six had been convicted of robberies, and that their executions were ordered in October 2004.

The news of the executions shocked the men's relatives in Somalia and Europe. The relatives were under the impression that the six men, who were arrested in 1999, had been sentenced to five-year prison terms and flogging. The relatives had failed to obtain official confirmation of the sentences, and became increasingly anxious when the expected release date had come and gone and there was still no sign of the men. They approached Amnesty International in 2004 but no further information could be obtained until the announcement of the executions. 

Amnesty International then learnt that the six prisoners were themselves unaware of the death sentences until the very morning of their executions. The six had escaped war-torn Somalia in search of a better life only to fall victim to Saudi Arabia's relentless use of the death penalty. Their families were unable to recover their bodies for burial.

The case of the six Somalis is only one of many to illustrate the stark horror of the death penalty in Saudi Arabia.

Saudi Arabia is a wealthy nation and often avoids any action by the international community against its human rights abuses. The fact that these executions took place was because there was no  legitimate and strong government to fight for these helpless Somali nationals ,  which made them easy targets .

The time may be ripe for the Arab Spring to go far beyond Syria and topple the corrupt and the repressive regime of Al Saud in the Arabian Peninsula .

Medeshi