“The information was relayed to me by Leonora (not her real name) who arrived in the Philippines Tuesday night from Riyadh after over four months' detention at the prison for women in Malaz district,” John Leonard Monterona, Migrante Middle East regional coordinator, told Arab News on Wednesday.

Leonora and Sofia (also not her real name) were detained after they were found with three Indians in a villa in Diriyah last January.

Monterona said that most of the 30 women were charged with absconding and immorality.

“They claim that they have already served their jail terms. Others claim that they have been jailed for three months although they were not sentenced,” he said.

He added that once he officially gets their names, he'll forward these to the embassy.

“I have called the Philippine Embassy's Assistance to Nationals Section head about the matter and he promised that he'd look into the women detainees' cases,” he said.

He added, however, that the embassy clarified that only the cases filed before the granting of royal pardon in February will be included in the list of detainees recommended for clemency.

“According to reliable sources, there are 120 Filipino inmates who had been granted pardon. This represents only 15 percent of the 800 jailed Overseas Filipino Workers in the Kingdom,” he said.

He also said that Migrante monitored that there are 40 inmates who had been released and repatriated under the royal clemency.