More than 21,600 Pakistanis imprisoned abroad; over half in Saudi Arabia and UAE

More than 21,600 Pakistanis are currently imprisoned in 72 countries worldwide, including over 13,000 awaiting trial, according to figures presented in the National Assembly.

In a written reply to a question by Tahira Aurangzeb, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar informed the house that 21,647 Pakistanis were in foreign prisons. Of these, 13,078 were under trial, while 8,569 had been convicted.

According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the prisoners face charges in cases involving fraud, drug trafficking, sexual assault, fake visas and documents, murder and other offences.

Saudi Arabia has the highest number of imprisoned Pakistanis, with 10,745. Of these, 5,445 are held in Jeddah and 5,300 in Riyadh. The United Arab Emirates ranks second, with 5,297 Pakistani prisoners.

The ministry’s documents further show that 2,100 Pakistanis are imprisoned in 14 countries with which Pakistan has no prisoner extradition agreement.

These include 81 in Iraq, eight in Jordan, 12 in Egypt, 581 in Bahrain, 252 in Oman, 599 in Qatar, 27 in Australia, seven in South Korea, 16 in Japan, 459 in Malaysia, 35 in Thailand, 22 in Cambodia, and one each in the Philippines and Vietnam.