government is directed to ensure that under no circumstances, Sarwat Hussain, Shafia Khanum and their son Faraz Hussain shall be sent to Saudi Arabia

Sindh High Court (SHC) Friday allowed shifting of three convicts - a travel agent, his wife and son - to Islamabad so that they could be interrogated by a visiting Saudi Arabian delegation probing the Jeddah heroin trafficking case of 2009.
“The government is directed to ensure that under no circumstances, Sarwat Hussain, Shafia Khanum and their son Faraz Hussain shall be sent to Saudi Arabia without the permission of this court,” ordered an SHC division bench comprising Chief Justice Sarmad Jalal Osmany and Justice Zahid Hamid.Hussain and his wife and son were charged with gifting heroin-filled footwear to eight members of a family, who were going to perform umrah. The Saudi authorities had detained them at Jeddah airport in January 2009.Additional district and sessions judge, East, Karachi, had indicted Hussain and his family on October 18, 2009. The SHC had restrained the government from shifting the convicts to Saudi Arabia to secure the release of the detained pilgrims.
Sindh Advocate General Yousuf Leghari had moved an application on behalf of Sindh Home Department seeking permission to shift Hussain and family to Islamabad from Karachi Central Jail so that a Saudi delegation visiting Islamabad could interrogate them.On Friday, the Karachi Central Jail authorities produced the convicts in the court.The bench asked them whether they had any objection, if they were transferred to Islamabad for 48 hours for interrogation by the Saudi Arabian delegation and brought back to Karachi. The convicts stated they would agree on the proposal, if the officials gave an undertaking that they would not be sent to Saudi Arabia.
Sindh Additional Home Secretary Rizwanuddin assured they would not be sent to Saudi Arabia without the permission of the court.The court also ordered the government to ensure that the three convicts were not maltreated either physically or verbally during the interrogation. ppi