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Saudi crown prince orders release of 2,100 Pakistani prisoners

By Clyde Hughes
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (R), who met with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo last October in Riyadh, ordered the release of more than 2,100 Pakistani prisoners Monday. Photo courtesy U.S. Department of State/UPI
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (R), who met with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo last October in Riyadh, ordered the release of more than 2,100 Pakistani prisoners Monday. Photo courtesy U.S. Department of State/UPI | License Photo

Feb. 18 (UPI) -- Saudi Arabia Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman, whose reputation has been battered internationally since the death of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, on Monday ordered the release of more than 2,100 Pakistani prisoners in Saudi Arabia.

Pakistan Prime Minister Imram Khan made the request to bin Salman upon his arrival in Islamabad, which is part of a larger international tour of Saudi Arabia's future leader.

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Pakistani workers travel to the Middle East regularly for employment in construction or domestic help, but thousands have been jailed without the financial means to seek legal help.

Pakistan foreign minister Shah Mohmood Qureshi praised the decision by bin Salman.

"Crown Prince Muhammad Bin Salman has graciously agreed to free 2,107 Pakistani prisoners in Saudi Arabia with immediate effect," Qureshi tweeted. "Cases of the remaining will be reviewed. People of Pakistan thank HRH for responding immediately to Prime Minister Imran Khan's request."

The prince announced upon his arrival Sunday that Saudi Arabia would invest $20 billion in Pakistan, saying the series of expenditures would "certainly grow each month and every year."

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The planned investments include building an oil refinery and petrochemical complex in Pakistan's southern port city of Gwadar, the possible acquisition of two liquified natural gas-powered power plants by Saudi companies and up to $4 billion in alternative energy and mining deals, chief of Pakistan's Board of Investment told Al Jazeera.

The Pakistan trip is part of a multiple stop tour that some believe hopes to rebuild the prince's image after he has been blamed, particular by United States intelligence, for being behind the death of Khashoggi last October.

In December, a bipartisan group of U.S. senators introduced a resolution to find bin Salman complicit in the death of Khashoggi after a closed-door meeting with CIA director Gina Haspel. President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said, though, there's no direct evidence connecting the prince with the journalist's Oct. 2 death at the Saudi consulate in Turkey.

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