JEDDAH'S SITTEEN BRIDGE: CONGEN OFFICERS WITNESS

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 JEDDAH 000072

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E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/11/2019
TAGS: KTIP KCRM PHUM KWMN SMIG KFRD ASEC PREF ELAB
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SUBJECT: JEDDAH'S SITTEEN BRIDGE: CONGEN OFFICERS WITNESS
DEPORTATION OF FOREIGN WORKERS

Classified By: CG Martin R. Quinn for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d)


1. (C) SUMMARY: In the process of confirming a Saudi
newspaper story that Indonesian workers were congregating
under a Jeddah bridge awaiting deportation, ConGen officers
spoke to several prospective deportees while observing
hundreds being loaded into busses en route to the deportation
center. Learning of FSOs' presence at the scene, a Saudi
police colonel later raised the specter of "PNGing" officers,
claiming the incident had raised the ire of senior SAG
officials in Jeddah. ConGen FSN was briefly detained as were
Bangladeshi workers to whom officers had spoken. To date no
official SAG complaint has been received. END SUMMARY.

2.(C) On February 8, ConGen officers observed the deportation
of several hundred foreign workers, including many
Indonesians, at Sitteen Bridge in South Jeddah. Acting on
information published in a February 1 Arabic daily Okaz
article and in an effort to confirm other rumors, officers
visited the deportation scene, known to be the place where
illegal workers and overstayers congregate awaiting
transportation by police to deportation centers. Sitteen
Bridge is located near a commercial plaza with shops, a bank,
and a petrol station in an area brightly lit with vendors
hawking wares and services. During a typical day one to two
thousand foreign workers -- Indian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi,
Indonesian -- mostly men but with some women (in a
gender-segregated area) camp out in make-shift tents under
the highway.

DEPARTING BANGLADESHI BAKER

3.(C) A typical case was a Bangladeshi baker who claimed to
have worked at a Riyadh bakery for three years though not
paid even a month of salary with his sponsor refusing to
grant an exit visa at the conclusion of the contract. The
baker said he came, destitute, to the Sitteen Bridge in order
to expedite his departure, noting that many of those waiting
had been trying to get deported for days, but that
deportation busses were often full and did not appear every
day.

DEPORTATION PROCESS -- NO VIOLENCE


4. (C) Upon the arrival of a Saudi police vehicle, a crowd of
about 500 began clustering into a tight group, forming
several orderly lines near the tents. Exiting their
vehicles, police walked toward the cluster. Eventually a
small group of 10-15 Asian men asked to join the deportees,
were initially refused, but were finally placed at the front
of the queue, to the displeasure of the rest. Police
appeared to treat the workers generally well, and the
situation was calm and orderly. While some police
occasionally raised their voices and ordered workers about
and others carried police batons, ConGen officers witnessed
no violence or actual mistreatment. During the round-up
process, one Saudi was witnessed dropping off and bidding
farewell to what appeared to be a family of foreign workers.
Another Saudi arrived at the scene and distributed food
packages to waiting deportees, in what seemed to be a "Good
Samaritan" gesture.

5.(C) Through an LES interpreter, ConGen officers thought it
prudent to identify themselves to the ranking Saudi policeman
who granted them permission to remain at the scene as long as
no photographs or notes were taken and they didn't speak to
the deportees.

LOAD 'EM UP, SHIP 'EM OUT


6. (C) Several minutes into the process, four busses arrived,
equipped with security doors separating the passengers from
the driver. Workers' papers were carefully checked as they
were methodically loaded into busses. At one point a vehicle
with a Saudi driver transporting several African women and a
few younger African men arrived. The African women joined
the other females and the males (who appeared to be part of
the same family) were granted priority access to a bus. The
Saudi driver appeared to be executing a routine drop-off of
workers for deportation. Some deportees seemed to be
prioritized for admission to the deportation center and may

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have been Hajj/Umrah ove-stayers. Usually in possession of
their passpors, over-stayers are relatively easy to deport
since no sponsor is involved. A group of women, likely
Indonesian including several with infants, were granted
priority access to an all-female bus. While several hundred
deportees found seats on busses, the rest were obliged to
wait for another day or longer. Up to 12 busses arrive daily
on an irregular schedule, with each bus ferrying about 50
passengers to the deportation center. Consulates of some
countries of origin apparently inform their citizens about
the Sitteen Bridge area in order to facilitate their
repatriation.


7. (C) According to police, most foreigners arriving at the
deportation center are visa over-stayers who are quickly
processed for exit. For departing workers the process is more
complex since an effort is made to contact sponsors to
determine whether or not the intending deportee has committed
a crime. Some workers are simply returned to their sponsors.
A police captain claimed that most remain at the center for
relatively short periods of time, several days or at most
weeks, although we have it on good authority that the waiting
period can stretch into months. Deportees with payment
disputes are issued papers to pursue their claims through the
courts or may be allowed to consult lawyers.

UNDERCOVER COP


8. (C) While observing the deportation process, ConGen
officers were approached by a plainclothes policeman asking
questions about the reason for their presence. "Are you human
rights?" he asked in English. While not identifying himself,
the plainclothesman was seen chatting with several uniformed
policemen who were conducting the deportation.

SAG OFFICIALS UPSET?


9. (C) After ConGen officers departed the scene, the ARSO was
contacted by the Saudi officer in charge of the diplomatic
police in Jeddah, Colonel Badr Al-Shalhoob. On February 10
"Colonel Badr" appeared at the consulate claiming that the
Governor of the Mecca Region, Prince Khalid Al-Faisal, as
well as the MFA Director General for the Mecca Region,
Ambassador Mohammed Tayeb, were both unhappy about American
diplomats being present at the deportation site. Badr noted
that Ministry of Interior plainclothes officers had been
monitoring the scene and remarked that without his (Badr's)
support, the Americans' presence at the deportation scene
could lead to their being declared "persona non grata." Badr
informed us that the accompanying FSN and all Bangladeshis to
whom officers had spoken had been detained and questioned.
(In fact, the FSN was briefly stopped and questioned by
police after leaving work February 8.) Badr warned officers
against "trespassing into internal affairs," recommending
that he be contacted about any such visit and that a formal
diplomatic note be submitted in the future before visiting
such sites. While conceding that there was no rule against
movement in public places, Badr insisted that such preventive
measures were necessary in order "to protect diplomats from
potential murderers," remarking that "all Afghans and
Pakistanis were anti-American." Fabricating a plausible
excuse or cover story, Badr said he would tell his MOI and
MFA bosses that ConGen officers had happened upon the Sitteen
Bridge area by accident while out on an excursion to the
nearby gold suq.

PROBLEM INHERENT IN SAUDI SPONSORSHIP SYSTEM


10. (C) COMMENT. The deportation scene at Sitteen Bridge
confirms reports that foreign workers falling on hard times
or who are not paid by their employers gather at the spot in
an effort to leave Saudi Arabia quickly and to get free
passage home. Some, working illegally after overstaying
Hajj/Umrah visas, use the process as a means to return home.
Still others, arriving without documentation or sponsors, are
unable to secure exit visas and go to Sitteen Bridge to be
deported. In addition, a steady flow of laborers and
domestic workers from impoverished countries arrive in Saudi
Arabia on legal contracts, but later, for one reason or
another, run away from their sponsors. Under Saudi law, a
worker whose contract is concluded is entitled to be released

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with the sponsor obligated to arrange the exit visa and pay
the worker's return travel. Deportees include workers who
have run away from their sponsors in mid-contract (due to
abuse or non-payment of wages) as well as workers whose
contracts have terminated but whose sponsors simply dump them
at the deportation center to avoid paying the return ticket.
The deportation scene at the Sitteen Bridge speaks to great
problems inherent in the Saudi "sponsorship system" which
leaves workers with virtually no freedom of movement between
employers.


11. (C) Media accounts confirmed by post indicate that the
deportation process may itself be overwhelmed by the volume
of those seeking to exit the Kingdom. Saudi officials give
priority entry to the facility for those who are easiest to
deport (illegal workers without sponsors). Workers with
sponsors, such as the Indonesians who recently demonstrated
in front of their Jeddah consulate, pose greater challenges
to the Saudi deportation process.


12. (C) Saudi officials' presumed negative reaction to the
presence of ConGen officers talking to foreign workers at a
public deportation site may be evidence of the extent to
which the Kingdom views its internal affairs as intensely
private, its wariness about diplomatic missions prying into
issues related to sensitive subject of human rights, and its
embarrassment at diplomats witnessing events that could
reflect negatively on the country. To date, no official SAG
complaint has been lodged with the Embassy or Consulate
General concerning the incident. END COMMENT.

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