Search
Close this search box.

Contact

Search
Close this search box.

Saudi government agrees to free 23 Pak women prisoners

Pak ambassador in KSA Lt Gen (R) Bilal says arrangements being made for repatriation of 65 Pak prisoners earlier released from Saudi jails after Pak embassy paid their outstanding fine amount

ISLAMABAD   – The Pakistan embassy in Sau­di Arabia with the help of Sau­di authorities has conducted a survey of Pakistani prisoners in Saudi jails and detected 23 Pa­kistani women prisoners in var­ious Saudi jails.

“After detection of these Pa­kistani women prisoners lan­guishing in Saudi jails, Pakistani embassy took up the matter at the highest level with the Sau­di authorities for their repatri­ation to Pakistan on humani­tarian grounds, which the Saudi government accepted”, Pakistan Ambassador to Kingdom of Sau­di Arabia Lt Gen (R) Bilal Akbar told The Nation on phone from Riyadh.

He said two women have been released immediately by Saudi authorities on the request of Pa­kistan embassy as they accom­panied children with them in the jail.

When asked about the na­ture of crime, the ambassador said these women are in jail on charges of narcotics smuggling which is a serious crime, but the Saudi authorities have agreed to repatriate them to Pakistan, which, he said, is indeed a sig­nificant breakthrough.

Ambassador Bilal Akbar said arrangements are being made for repatriation of 65 Pakistan­is released by the Saudi author­ities this week from various prisons after Pakistani embas­sy paid their outstanding fine amount.

“After issuing them tempo­rary travel documents these Pa­kistanis would be able to travel to Pakistan next week”, Bilal Ak­bar said.

Ambassador Akbar said twen­ty to twenty five more Pakistan­is are expected to be released next week.

 “There are one three thou­sand two hundred and eighty four total Pakistani prisoners in Saudi jails out of which one thousand one hundred Paki­stanis who are in jails would be repatriated to Pakistan in phas­es, they would complete their remaining sentence,” Ambassa­dor Bilal Akbar said.

He said those Pakistanis who are involved in drug smuggling and other serious crimes are not being released by Saudi au­thorities.

The ambassador in response to a question said acceptance of Chinese vaccine is under strong consideration of the Saudi gov­ernment, as their experts have visited laboratories in China and found the standards satis­factory, so if Chinese vaccine is finally accepted by KSA it would be a big relief for Pakistani workers coming from Pakistan to KSA.

Source: The Nation