Saudi Arabia frees another 28 Pakistani prisoners

The Saudi government has released 28 more Pakistanis who had been languishing in the jails of Saudi Arabia for petty crimes on Tuesday.

The inmates reached Lahore  from Dammam today on the Pakistan International Airline's flight 9246.

Pakistan Ambassador to Saudi Arabia Bilal Akbar has been striving for the release of Pakistanis detained in minor cases at the directives of Prime Minister Imran Khan.

Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting Farrukh Habib further reiterated the return of the Pakistani prisoners in a tweet.

“Due to the special efforts of PM Imran, more Pakistanis imprisoned in Saudi Arabia have been released and will arrive at the Lahore International Airport at 6am on Tuesday,” Farrukh wrote on his Twitter handle a day ago.

The minister stated that the released prisoners would now be able to live a happy life with their families.

Last month, 63 Pakistani prisoners were released by Saudi Arabia due to the prime minister’s efforts.

Overseas Pakistanis Foundation Managing Director Dr Amer Sheikh received the freed prisoners in July. He was accompanied by senior officials of the foundation, Ministry of Overseas Pakistanis and Human Resource Development and families of the returned inmates.

The inmates expressed jubilation at their release and return to their homeland ahead of Eid. They also expressed gratitude to the incumbent government for “its remarkable efforts”.