Ex-minister: 3,309 Pakistanis detained in Saudi prisons 

There are some 1.5 million Pakistanis living in Saudi Arabia with 3,309 currently detained in jail, Pakistan’s former minister of local government, elections and rural development in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly Inayatullah Khan said.

“Some Pakistanis have committed suicide in Saudi prisons because of ill-treatment or because they were mistreated by their Saudi sponsors,” Khan said, adding that “many Pakistanis are behind bars for committing minor crimes”.

MP Sahibzada Sanaullah added: “A majority of our citizens are imprisoned in Saudi Arabia because of matters related to visas. This type of crime does not require long prison terms.”

For his part, a Pakistani citizen who spoke on the condition of anonymity told Anadolu that he worked as a taxi driver in Saudi Arabia and was imprisoned for 25 days for taking a sick woman to hospital in his taxi.

They imprisoned me although the lady did not press any charges, the young man said, adding that his Saudi sponsor has asked his family for 30,000 riyals (nearly $8,000) to release him.

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