legal assistance and with help from other Arabic-speaking detainees—but in no cases did these defense arguments alter the rulings, which were presented again and again before defendants as they attended hearings, unchanged no matter what evidence the defendant tried to present. In all cases, detainees either immediately or eventually accepted their sentences, fearing that continuing to contest the rulings would result in indefinite detention. One former detainee who served a one-year sentence for attempting to leave Saudi Arabia with a forged passport and arrived in Pakistan in September 2015 following his deportation, described his experience at his first hearing: The judge asked me to sign a confession letter which was in Arabic. I was given eight months of imprisonment. I was working in [Saudi Arabia] for about three-and-a-half years so I could understand Arabic thus I did not ask for a translator. The judge did not tell me anything apart from my crime. Judges do not usually talk to anyone except for prisoners involved in very serious I just silently accepted what was written in the letter because I wanted to get over the whole thing quickly. I had seen in the prison that prisoners who refused to sign the letter stay in the jail for a longer time. The judge keeps sending them back to jail every time they refuse; thus, this prolongs their stay in prison. I did not want that to happen with me. Apart from the judge, two other men were present in the room. One was the reader and one was writing something 14 Another detainee, Ghulam, described how he eventually accepted his six-month sentence for transporting drugs in his taxi after the judge presented the same option again and again over four separate court hearings: I was asked to sign a confession letter, which stated that I was transporting the drugs, and I was guilty as the drugs were mine. This letter was presented to me on my first day of trial.... I refused to sign it by stating that I had nothing to do with the drugs and it was not mine so I was not guilty. [Over] two more hearings the judge asked me to sign the confession letter again. I eventually gave in [during] my fourth hearing and signed the confession letter . I had already received a sentence of six months 14 Justice Project Pakistan interview with Fahad, Gujranwala, November 12, 2015. AUGHT IN A WEB 14