ASIA / YEMEN - African migrants tortured by human traffickers to pay their ransom Hajjah (Agenzia Fides)

ASIA / YEMEN - African migrants tortured by human traffickers to pay their ransom Hajjah (Agenzia Fides) - The discovery of 70 men and battered women, prisoners held in Hajjah, a remote area of the Governorate of Yemen near the Saudi border, led to an investigation into the torture and sull'estorsione they face the African immigrants by criminal gangs. According to local authorities, these people, an ethnic Oromo and Somali region of Ethiopia in Somalia, were held as prisoners, wearing only his underwear, in a house set up by traffickers in the city of Haradh Sharqia. Some of them, bypassing the high surrounding walls, managed to escape by giving the alarm and reporting to the authorities that they were savagely beaten with pipes by their captors, having been burned with cigarettes and other atrocities. Many of the victims, according to the head of the District Security Haradh, were trying to find work in Saudi Arabia, but unfortunately I then got into the hands of criminals who sought to free them thousands of dollars in ransom. Immigrants continue to be tortured until family members do not pay, or until the arrival of new immigrants who fall into the net. According to a recent report by the Ministry of Interior, between January 2011 and February 2012, 170 Africans were held captive, tortured and abused by bandits Haradh. The victims are 91 young men, 10 women, 50 children and 19 elderly men, often beaten and beaten until the loss of sight and hearing. The Haradh police have arrested a couple suspected of holding in custody 49 illegal immigrants and 79 Ethiopians. Another 20 Ethiopian women at risk of being tortured and raped continue to be sought. Rape is one of the most common methods of torture. According to witnesses, it seems that most of 3 000 women held captive in Haradh in over the past year, have been repeatedly raped, some were pregnant. Other victims have been mutilated in various parts of the body, eyes, back, legs, as well as being scarred on the face and head and left bleeding. Following other research, the district has identified security Haradh other detention centers in villages outside the city. According to the International Organization for Migration (IOM), in spite of widespread discontent over the last year in Yemen, there was an increase of nearly 100% of Ethiopians from the Horn of Africa: more than 65 thousand compared to the 34,422 2010. The UNHCR said that every year enter illegally Heradh between 10 000 and 15 000 immigrants along the western coast of Yemen. (AP) (Agenzia Fides 12/3/2012)