Human Rights Watch and Justice Pakistan Project analyzed a regularly updated online Saudi Interior Ministry database that purports to list cases of detainees in Saudi detention centers, without identifying them, and the status of their cases. The database, as it appeared on August 30, 2017, showed 83 Pakistanis in Saudi detention.9 Of the 83, 61 appeared to have remained in detention for periods longer than 6 months without having their cases referred to Saudi courts. Of these sixty-one, fifty had the case status bureau of i bureau of i In other words, the data shows that Saudi criminal justice officials appear to have held most detained Pakistani citizens for far longer than the six-month maximum period allowed without referring them to a Saudi court. Saudi officials have held one detainee since his arrest on August 9, 2015, a 10 period of over two years. Interviews with Pakistani detainees confirmed for long periods without charge. One former detainee, Abbas, said authorities held him in -and-a-half months before bringing him before a judge in a case involving a fake work permit.11 The father of another current detainee, Babar, said his son was detained for drug smuggling when he landed in Saudi Arabia, but authorities did not bring him to a court hearing until eight months later.12 A third former detainee, Naveed, whose 10-year sentence for drug distribution was commuted when King Salman issued a general amnesty in early 2015 after he became king, said that authorities held him for six months before bringing him to attend his first court hearing, and that his second hearing was one year and three months after the first.13 Convictions and Sentences Presented at First Hearing Nearly all detainees and their family members said that Saudi courts did not give detainees any meaningful opportunity to argue their side of the case before Saudi courts. For all non-serious cases, detainees said that judges did not attempt to establish the facts of a case with input or feedback from Pakistani defendants. Rather, the judge had prepared their convictions and sentences in advance when they attended their first hearing. They said that judges gave detainees an opportunity to contest the rulings by submitting an Arabic-language written defense—often written by hand in prison without hed Inmate List, (accessed August 30, 2017). -list 9 10 Ibid. 11 Justice Project Pakistan interview with Abbas, January 12, 2016. 12 Justice Project Pakistan interview with father of Babar, Sargodha, July 20,2016. 13 Justice Project Pakistan interview with Naveed, Sargodha, December 6, 2015. 13 MARCH 2018