were drugs. The police the police station asked the women police to take the two women to 22 Hafiz said that after the women told the true story, police detained them. His wife eventually received a 20-year sentence and his sister remains on trial. In another case, Rashid, a former Pakistani detainee who served three years of a five-year sentence for transporting drugs in his taxi said that he signed a confession and agreed to his sentence after his Saudi work sponsor pressured him to do so.23 He said: I was presented before the judge and he sentenced me to five years of imprisonment. The officials asked me to sign a paper but I refused to do so. Later on, my [Saudi] sponsor came and he asked me to sign the papers because he knew that [the court process] was going to make me spend this much time imprisoned anyway. I do not know whether it was a confession letter or anything else because I was given no time to read it. As I stated everything happened in such a hurry that I do not know what was written on the paper. I learned about my confession [later] when the judge told me about it.24 Of all the Pakistani defendants, only one, Younus, managed to obtain a lawyer, who assisted him in reducing a death sentence for drug smuggling to 15 years: Fortunately, two of my friends, one from Saudi Arabia and another from Syria, hired a lawyer for me for 50 thousand Saudi riyals [(US$13,332)]. He fought my case in court and fortunately, on a third hearing sentence, [the sentence] was commuted to 15 years with a 50 thousand riyal [($13,332)] fine and 1,500 lashes.25 22 Justice Project Pakistan interview with Hafiz, September 16, 2016. kafala (spon or sponsors, also fuels exploitation and abuse. Under this system, an employer or sponsor assumes responsibility for a hired migrant worker and must grant explicit permission before the worker can enter Saudi Arabia, transfer employment, or leave the country. The kafala system gives the employer immense control over the worker. Human Rights Watch documented numerous cases where workers were unable to escape from abusive conditions or even to return home upon completion of their contracts because their employer denied them permission to leave the country. See Human Rights Watch, , July 2008, https://www.hrw.org/reports/2008/saudiarabia0708/index.htm. 23 24 Justice Project Pakistan interview with Rashid, December 23, 2015. 25 Justice Project Pakistan interview with Younus, Khushab, May 8, 2016. 17 MARCH 2018