- 3,212 Pakistani prisoners repatriated through the Kingdom’s airports in 2019, Al-Malki says
- Pakistani interior minister says released prisoners brought back through a seamless process
ISLAMABAD: Saudi Ambassador to Pakistan, Nawaf bin Said Al-Malki, said Saudi Arabia had released 579 Pakistani prisoners in 2019 in line with an announcement by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman during a visit to Pakistan this year that 2,107 Pakistani prisoners languishing in Saudi jails be immediately released.
According to an official count, there are roughly 3,400 Pakistani prisoners in Saudi prisons. Their fate is a sensitive issue in Pakistan, where it is largely perceived that the prisoners are mostly poor laborers without real legal recourse.
“A large number of them … almost 579 prisoners have been released this year,” Al-Malki told Arab News in an interview, adding that 3,212 Pakistani prisoners had been repatriated through the Kingdom’s airports in 2019.
He said different government departments were working to implement Crown Prince Salman’s orders.
“His Royal Highness Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdul Aziz, Crown Prince, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defense, promised to release Pakistani prisoners involved in minor misdemeanours in Saudi Arabia and ensure their return to their homes,” Al-Malki added.
“The judicial system in the Kingdom is currently studying the cases of 1,619 Pakistani prisoners sentenced to various cases, especially drug trafficking, promotion and use, and other issues such as forgery, robbery, theft and moral misdemeanours, to consider the possibility of their release after evaluating each case separately,” the Saudi envoy said.
Pakistani interior minister Brig. (r) Ijaz Ahmed Shah said prisoners released by the Kingdom were brought back through a seamless process.
“There was no problem in bringing those prisoners back who are released by Saudi Arabia after Crown Prince Muhammad bin Salman’s Pakistan visit,” Shah said, adding that the real problem was identifying those prisoners who traveled to the kingdom on fake documents.
“It is a very difficult preposition to ascertain the identity of those people,” the interior ministry said. “If we are certain that he is Pakistani then we immediately send the aircraft and bring them back.”