The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) appreciates the efforts of the Pakistani Ambassador to Saudi Arabia and his two-member fact finding team to probe the cases of the Pakistanis who are on death row and awaiting beheading on the charges of drug smuggling. The government of Saudi Arabia must also be praised for its readiness to show sympathy for the plight of the prisoners and has agreed to the request by Pakistan to halt the executions.
The AHRC has documented cases of young Pakistani men, beset by financial difficulties in most cases, forced by local criminal organisations to act as ‘mules’ in trafficking drugs from Pakistan into Saudi Arabia. Many of these ‘couriers’ reported having been approached by local operators of drug groups known to them, who outlined for them a job opportunity abroad and offering assistance in obtaining a work visa for Saudi Arabia. However, once they arrive in Islamabad, having been asked to pick up their visas, the unfortunate young men are abducted and driven to isolated locations. They are held captive and forced, via a variety of threats and blackmail, to become drug-mules. In some cases it is the direct threat of murder but in others, family members of the unfortunate carriers are kidnapped and held hostage until the ‘job’ is completed.
When these people arrive at Saudi Arabian airports and are caught with the drugs they inform the authorities that someone will receive them outside the airport to whom they have to hand over the narcotics. However, the airport authorities never take action to apprehend the receivers. The arrested persons are also the victims of corrupt officials of the Anti Narcotic Force, Customs and other security forces at the Pakistani airports who allowed them to pass without being scanned or searched.
Please see below the links of the AHRC interventions which were issued for obtaining their release:
PAKISTAN: Pakistanis facing beheading in Saudi Arabia need immediate UN intervention
PAKISTAN/SAUDI ARABIA: Save poor Pakistanis from being beheaded in Saudi Arabia
PAKISTAN/SAUDI ARABIA: AHRC welcomes release of prisoners from Saudi jails, requests case revision for prisoners awaiting beheading
The Pakistani Ambassador, Mr. Muhammad Naeem, reacted promptly to the AHRC interventions and formed a two-member fact finding mission which consisted of Mr. Abdul Kareem Qazi, the Embassy’s legal consultant and Mr. Hammad Abid, the Welfare Attaché at the Dammam Consulate, to conduct interviews with Pakistani prisoners in order to get an accurate picture of their arrests in cases of drug smuggling.
On the instructions of Mr. Ambassador Naeem, the fact finding team visited around 150 prisoners in different jails and documented their interviews with all of the Pakistani prisoners. These included those sentenced to beheading and others with sentences ranging from 10 to 18 years. On the basis of the team’s report the Embassy wrote to the Ministry of the Interior of Saudi Arabia requesting that the punishment of beheading is halted until Pakistan carries out action against the drug lords responsible for sending these men and also conducts inquiries into the concerned authorities who assisted the peddlers.
Sources from prisons in Saudi Arabia reveal that a letter has been sent from the Saudi government to the different prisons regarding the cases of Pakistani prisoners but the contents were not available. It is reported that the letter was about halting the sentences of beheading until the government of Pakistan completes its enquiry.
The AHRC lauds the prompt action of the Pakistan Embassy in the cases of the beheading of Pakistani prisoners and wishes to express its gratitude to Ambassador Muhammad Naeem and the two-member fact finding mission of Mr. Abdul Kareem Qazi and Mr. Hammad Abid. Their service to their countrymen may well have saved several lives and will help to bring to an end the abhorrent actions of the drug lords that use innocent men to carry their drugs for them.
The government of Pakistan must follow the actions of the Saudi Arabian government and commute the death sentences of the 7,800 Pakistanis on death row in their own country and speedily abolish the death sentence.
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