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On death row in Saudi Arabia: forgotten Pakistani prisoners

Saudi Arabia executes more Pakistanis than any other nationality, but Pakistan continues to fail its citizens in Saudi prisons.

On death row in Saudi Arabia: forgotten Pakistani prisoners
Families of Pakistani prisoners in Saudi jails demanding better consular protection from Pakistani authorities in Islamabad. | Picture by the Justice Project Pakistan.
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Mohammed Imran, a Pakistani migrant who had been in a Saudi prison for the past eight years, was executed last month.

Imran had travelled to Saudi Arabia to start a new job and was arrested on arrival at the airport for drug-related charges, a crime that is punished by death in the country. Imran was then taken to a fairly crowded, sand-colored facility after being put on trial on Arabic - a language he did not speak - and without access to an attorney. Imran spent the rest of his days in the facility.

He was just one of the close to 3,400 Pakistani jailed in Saudi Arabia - making Pakistanis the largest number of expatriates in Saudi prisons, according to figures by Pakistan’s foreign ministry,