Friends not masters: Relatives of Pakistanis held in KSA stage demo

Protestors call for loved ones to be released

LAHORE: Relatives of Pakistani citizens incarcerated in prisons across Saudi Arabia on Friday staged a protest demonstration to call for their release and action against elements involved in smuggling narcotics.

The demonstrators held placards inscribed with anti-government slogans which according to them had not done enough to secure their release. 75-year-old Sargodha resident Haleema Bibi, one of the protestors, told The Express Tribune that her son Ali Imran had been languishing in a Jeddah prison for two years. Bibi said the family had lost contact with him after he had left for Saudi Arabia. She said someone from Kasur had later informed them that he had been imprisoned for attempting to smuggle narcotics. Bibi said the family had lodged an FIR against some men who had prevailed on him to leave for the kingdom. She said police had nabbed one Mustafa but had later released him after being bribed.

Khushab resident Noorunnisa said her husband Yasin had been languishing in a jail in the kingdom for eight years and four months. She said some men had abducted him and forced him to swallow narcotics. Noorunnisa said they had told him that the drugs were medicines meant for patients fighting for their lives. She said they had told him that their accomplices would take the “medicines” from him in Saudi Arabia. Noorunnisa said the family had learnt of her husband’s fate three months after he had departed for the kingdom.



Haji Abdul Haq told The Express Tribune that his son Muhammad Arfan had been languishing in a Riyadh jail since May, 2010. He said he was on death row. Haq said he had appealed to the prime minister, the president and the foreign ministry to look into his case in vain. Haq said Pakistani inmates were denigrated in Saudi prisons. He said he had managed to get those responsible for sending his son to the kingdom nabbed. Haq said a court had later acquitted them. He said they were still involved in the business of ensnaring unsuspecting citizens.

Chichawatni resident Asma said Abdul Hameed, a local spiritual leader, was involved in the business of blackmailing his followers into becoming drug mules. She said 10 of his followers had been nabbed in the kingdom so far. Asma said five of them had been beheaded. She said no action had been taken against him despite locals’ entreaties.

Muhammad Arif Gujjar, who was in a Saudi jail for 10 years, told The Express Tribune that he had spent a decade in prison for a crime that carried a one-year sentence. He said he had witnessed 200 beheadings there. Gujjar said the executions had not garnered any publicity.

He said only executions carried out in sites of public interest were covered by the press. Gujjar said such instances were rare. He said Pakistani officials rarely called on inmates hailing from their country. Gujjar said officials of other countries made it a point to visit detainees from their countries thrice a week.

The demonstration was organised by Justice Project Pakistan.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 10^th, 2015.