Workers deported from Saudi Arabia tell of abuse

Among the joyful family reunions at the arrivals gate at Dhaka's international air-port, one group of travellers stands out.

- Pete Pattisson DHAKA

These men appear gaunt and dazed, most of them carrying nothing but a thin blanket they picked up on the plane. They wear tracksuits and blue rubber sandals or shoes without laces. Some walk barefoot.

All have been deported from Saudi Arabia, and each day they arrive by the planeload. Nearly 70,000 Bangladeshi migrant workers were deported from the Gulf kingdom in 2022, mostly for not having a valid residence permit, known as an iqama.

They return from one of the wealthiest countries in the world, hungry, traumatised and without even the money for a bus ticket home. The only thing the men do bring back are horrific stories of abuse, false contracts and wage theft that tumble angrily out of them. One man, Amir Hossein, said he paid recruitment agents 400,000 taka ($3,650) to get to Saudi Arabia, but had been sent home after just over a year, during which he worked for nine months without payment. Another said he worked for three months but was only paid one month's salary.