The oracle concerning
Arabia. In the thickets in Arabia you will lodge, O caravans of
Dedanites. To the thirsty bring water; meet the fugitive with bread,
O inhabitants of the land of Tema. For they have fled from the
swords, from the drawn sword, from the bent bow, and from the press
of battle.
❖[Jeremiah
49:7-8]❖
“Concerning
Edom: This is what the LORD Almighty says: “Is there no longer
wisdom in Teman? Has counsel perished from the prudent? Has their
wisdom decayed? Turn and flee, hide in deep caves, you who live in
Dedan, for I will bring disaster on Esau at the time when I punish
him.”
❖[Ezekiel 25:13]❖
“Therefore
thus says the Lord GOD, I will stretch out my hand against Edom and
cut off from it man and beast. And I will make it desolate; from
Teman even to Dedan they shall fall by the sword.”
☪ Iran and Co. Will
Be Forced to Target Mystery Babylon Mecca and Medina
The oracle concerning
Arabia. In the thickets in Arabia you will lodge, O caravans of
Dedanites. To the thirsty bring water; meet the fugitive with bread,
O inhabitants of the land of Tema. For they have fled from the
swords, from the drawn sword, from the bent bow, and from the press
of battle.
Ethiopians on
death row in Saudi Arabia's Khamis Mushait detention centre speak to
MEE about their plight.
In Saudi
Arabia’s Khamis Mushait detention facility, hundreds of Ethiopian
prisoners are held on death row in harrowing conditions, waiting in
fear of their eventual execution.
On 21 April,
the shouts of the guards echoed through the overcrowded prison in
Aseer province as they came to read out the names of those scheduled
to be executed.
Three
Ethiopians were taken away to their fate.
Hailay Berhane,
a migrant from the Gulomahda district of northern Ethiopia’s Tigray
region, is being held in Khamis Mushait. He told Middle East Eye what
happened using the messaging app Imo. Like other prisoners MEE
communicated with for this article, his name has been changed.
“Guards came
early in the morning in a rush, handed cards to three of the
Ethiopian migrants among us and took them away,” he said.
“Two hours
later, the same guards came back and told us that the three migrants
had been beheaded and warned us that is what awaited us all.”
Ephrem Kidane,
another death row prisoner, also saw his friends taken away. After
they were executed, he told MEE, the guards wrapped their lifeless
bodies in their blankets.
Kibrom
Gebremariam, Tsigabu Hagos and Kidane Angesom were executed. They
were young men who had fled to Saudi Arabia from war-ravaged Tigray,
where the humanitarian situation remains dire.
The three
Tigrayans had crossed the Gulf of Aden and travelled through Yemen to
Saudi Arabia, seeking work. They carried khat, the plant chewed as a
mild stimulant in large parts of east Africa, with them.
According to
Human Rights Watch, Saudi security authorities arrested the three
Ethiopians between 2023 and 2024, accused them of drug-related
offences, and moved them between various detention centres until they
ended up in Khamis Mushait.
On 23 June,
five more Ethiopian nationals were executed, among many foreigners
accused of non-violent drug crimes by Saudi authorities. Multiple
sources said the prisoners admitted to the crimes, fearing that if
they did not, they would simply be executed without legal assistance.
The migrants
were forced to sign documents in Arabic without understanding their
content and, in some cases, were beaten by security forces, said
Berhane.
“They
handed me 41kg of drugs and forced me to believe it was mine and made
me sign documents that I don’t even understand what they were
saying in Arabic,” he told MEE, recalling the moment he was caught
by Saudi security men three years ago.
He was in the
deadly border region between Yemen and Saudi Arabia known as Rago.
It’s a place that has become known for the brutal apprehension of
migrants, with human rights organisations highlighting accusations
that Saudi border guards have fired indiscriminately on them.
“In the past
three years, I appeared in court three times for a very short period,
all without an interpreter,” Berhane said, describing how difficult
it was to present his case and prove his innocence.
“Foreign
nationals who are on death row in Saudi Arabia are, most of the time,
subjected to grossly unfair trials,” said Yared Hailemariam, an
Ethiopian human rights advocate.
Almost 100
executions in Saudi Arabia this year
Saudi
authorities have executed almost 100 people so far this year,
including at least 61 for drug-related offences, according to a new
report from Amnesty International.
“Foreign
nationals have borne the brunt of Saudi Arabia’s ruthless use of
the death penalty for drug-related offences, frequently after grossly
unfair trials,” the report said.
Amnesty said
that it was “profoundly alarming” that at least 63 Ethiopian
nationals are being held in a single ward of Khamis Mushait, and that
they were at “imminent risk of execution solely for drug-related
offences”.
According to
local officials, local civil society organisations and human rights
defenders who spoke with MEE, as many as 200 Ethiopian citizens are
currently on death row awaiting execution in Saudi Arabia. Many
prisoners say the figures could be higher.
“There are
many migrants in all six prison blocks here in Saudi Arabia,”
Berhane said. “In the Khamis Mushait detention facility there are
58 Ethiopian migrants, and most are from Tigray, uprooted by constant
conflict and crises, and dwindling humanitarian support.”
Speaking on a
phone smuggled into the detention centre, with security cameras
following his every move, the Ethiopian prisoner said he wonders how
long he has left to live.
“Every time
the security guards knock on the door, we feel that our names will be
called and we will become another figure among many who are wrongly
accused like myself, whose plea goes on unnoticed,” Kidane, another
prisoner, told MEE.
Kibrom
Gebremariam, 30, was among the Ethiopian migrants executed at Khamis
Mushait detention facility for drug-related offences on 21 April.
News of
Kibrom’s death shocked his parents in the Egela district of Tigray,
from where many young people migrate to Saudi Arabia.
Of the family’s
seven children, two had already made the hazardous journey across the
Gulf of Aden and then through war-torn Yemen.
Kibrom's older
brother, Merhawi, who migrated illegally to Yemen in 2020, was killed
by security forces three years ago. Migration has now claimed two
children from this family.
“Illegal
migration took our children. We anticipated Kibrom’s wedding, not
his death. His murder has become an open wound for us,” his
heartbroken mother, Gimja Gebremariam, told MEE at her home in
Tigray.
Tears filled
her eyes as she explained that nowadays, she prays that Saudi
authorities will release the corpse of her child, so that he can be
properly buried. This remains a distant dream for her and many
parents like her, who have been forced to mourn without a proper
burial.
When Kibrom
travelled through Somalia, across the sea and through Yemen into
Saudi Arabia 12 years ago, he dreamed of a life far away from the
reality of his village, where prospects were scarce.
He knew he was
taking a risk, but he never imagined that he would be thrown in
prison and left there for 11 years before being executed, his father,
Gebremariam Gebrezgiabher, said.
He had been
waiting for his son’s release from prison for years. Instead, he
received news that Kibrom had been executed. The shock has left him
bedridden.
The 30-year-old
Kibrom last spoke to his father on 20 April at midday, a day before
his death. Via the Imo messaging app, he assured his father that he
would return soon and be reunited with his family.
His death was
later confirmed by other prisoners, who sent a voice message saying
Kibrom had been beheaded.
“It was very
hard to hear of his death as a father, especially how he was killed,”
Gebrezgiabher, now a frail 60-year-old, told MEE. “His death has
killed a part of me and is made worse by the fact that I have nothing
to bury.”
'He wanted to
live a productive life'
One of Kibrom’s
cellmates, Tsigabu Hagos, was also executed.
Hagos was the
only son of eight children from a family whose livelihood is based on
agriculture. In 2020, he made it to Saudi Arabia travelling through
Somalia and Yemen. He wanted to stay there or go on to Europe, his
father, Hagos Gebremeskel, said.
“He wanted to
have his own business, be self-sufficient and live a productive
life,” Gebremeskel told MEE, as he glanced at his 26-year-old son’s
portrait on his mobile phone.
His mother,
Letekristos Gebretsadkan, recalled what Tsigabu told her after
reaching Saudi Arabia. He said he’d make her proud and promised to
support his younger sisters.
Gebremeskel,
who had previously been in Saudi Arabia in his early 20s and knew the
risk of a drug offence, said he didn’t think his son was involved
in such a trade, given his experience.
“I wasn’t
shocked when he was arrested. I was hoping he would eventually be
released as he was innocent,” the father said.
“I never
thought they would kill my son,” Letekristos lamented. She said she
was consoled by her husband. She wondered how much their son had been
tortured before he was killed, if the family would ever get justice,
if they would at least get the body of their son back.
Masho Hagos,
his sister, said her brother’s fate would not deter her from going
to Saudi Arabia. The 20-year-old is still a high school student
because she had to suspend her studies because of the brutal Tigray
war.
War and
economic crisis in Tigray
Since the
Tigray war officially ended in 2022, the region has been a little
more stable, though the humanitarian situation remains dire. Hundreds
of thousands of people died in the war, which also displaced
millions.
Many young
people continue to flee the region as fear of yet another conflict -
this time a proxy war involving Eritrea – remains.
High
unemployment rates, a collapsed wartime economy and recurring
conflict lead them to take the dangerous journey to Saudi Arabia or
Europe.
“Political
instability, armed conflict and economic crisis are the major factors
affecting the life of Ethiopian youths,” said Hailemariam, the
Ethiopian human rights expert. “They are also forcefully recruited
for military training and deployed as soldiers for both internal
conflicts and cross-border war.”
Christian
bishops from the Catholic and Orthodox churches in Tigray have
appealed to Saudi Arabia to show clemency for the 200 prisoners in
the kingdom. The president of the Tigray region has done the same.
“Saudi
Arabia’s willingness to execute foreign migrants for non-violent
offences following trials that denied them basic due process reflects
a profound disregard for their rights and lives,” said Nadia
Hardman, senior refugee and migrant rights researcher at Human Rights
Watch. “Saudi Arabia’s partners should urgently intervene before
it is too late.”
Back in the
village of Egela, Kibrom’s father is heartbroken, hoping other
parents won’t have to go through the nightmare of hearing that
their child has been killed in a Saudi prison.
He hopes such
tragedies will stop before the lives of too many more young
Ethiopians are shattered as they look for a future in richer
countries.
“That must
end,” he said, whispering in a voice that could barely be heard,
overwhelmed by the sorrow that comes from losing a child.
😲 US
warns Americans in Saudi Arabia to shelter in place.
☪ Saudi
Barbaria has
deployed American-made Patriot missile systems to protect Mecca.
😮 Shield for Mecca
is made in America. Isn't it supposed to be
protected by
Waqeyo-Baal-Allah-Lucifer?
✞ Walid
Shoebat, Ex-Muslim and Christian
author and speaker, has argued that Islamic nations like
Iran will destroy Saudi Arabia and Mecca as
part of end-times prophecy.
Based
on his interpretations of Bible prophecy, particularly in his book
God's War on Terror: Islam, Prophecy and the Bible, Shoebat presents
the following views:
Mecca
as the "Prostitute" of Revelation: Shoebat and co-author
Joel Richardson argue that Saudi Arabia/Mecca is "the Great
Prostitute of Revelation 17 and 18".
Destruction
of Mecca: He argues that the "Islamic beast empire" (a
coalition of Muslim nations) will eventually turn on Saudi Arabia
and destroy it.
Prophecy
Interpretation: Shoebat argues that the biblical Antichrist will be
Muslim and that the "coming war" involves an Islamic
coalition against Israel and Christianity.
Shoebat’s
work often focuses on his narrative that radical Islam is a "satanic
cult" and that a coalition of Islamic nations will be
responsible for apocalyptic destruction.
💭
Walid Shoebat: Mystery Babylon Saudi Barbaria Destroyed: Good Bye, to
Bad Rubbish!
