553 Keralites languishing in Saudi jails
In the Jeddah jail, there are 406 prisoners and 217 of them are from Kerala
By : rohit raj
Update: 2015-09-25 01:08 GMT
Kochi: There are 553 Keralites languishing in Saudi Arabian jails and many of them do not even know the charges against them. Most of them are also not able to contact their families.
This information has been provided to an RTI activist, Mahesh Vijayan, who is on a mission to bring back Keralites locked up in West Asian jails.
According to the new data, 1,346 Indians are in Saudi Arabian jails and 40 percent of them are Keralites. Though there is a treaty between the two countries, the authorities do not reveal the identities of prisoners.
Mr P.K. Agarval, central public information officer and head of chancery of Embassy of India, revealed that there are 940 prisoners in central prison, Riyadh. Of them, 336 are from Kerala, 132 from Andhra Pradesh and 104 from Uttar Pradesh.
In the Jeddah jail, there are 406 prisoners and 217 of them are from Kerala.
The details were given to Mr Mahesh in two separate RTI replies issued on June 11 and 24. “There are a number of prisoners in Saudi Arabia even without a proper charge. Many of them do not even know the reason why they are being lodged in prisons. We want to save them but the authorities are not providing the details which is a major hindrance,” Mr Mahesh said.
He was one of the activists who helped Jayachandran Mokeri escape from Maldives. “The copies of communications about Indian prisoners cannot be shared with a third party as it may adversely affect the bilateral relations between India and Saudi Arabia, especially keeping in view the welfare of the large Indian community (more than 2.7 million) present in the country,” said consul S.R.H. Fahmi of Consulate General of India at Jeddah.