Mohammed bin Salman ‘orders immediate release of 2,100 Pakistani prisoners’ from Saudi jails during visit to Pakistan

Move part of efforts to boost reputation damaged by Khashoggi killing

Saudi Arabia’s embattled leader, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, has reportedly announced the release of 2,100 Pakistanis from the kingdom’s prisons during a visit to Pakistan.

Pakistan is the first stop on an international tour which is widely regarded as being part of an attempt to rebuild his reputation after the murder of the Saudi dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

Fawad Chaudhry, Pakistan’s information minister, said on Twitter the Crown Prince had “ordered the immediate release of 2,107 Pakistani prisoners”, after a request by Pakistani prime minister Imran Khan.

The fate of thousands of Pakistani workers locked up in jails across the Middle East is a sensitive issue in Pakistan, where there is a perception the prisoners are mostly poor labourers who have no real legal recourse.

Huge numbers of Pakistanis travel to the Middle East every year, with many working on construction sites or as domestic helpers.

The remittances they send back are vital for Pakistan’s dollar-starved economy.

Saudi Arabia is yet to comment on the Pakistani announcement of a prisoner release.

The crown prince’s visit marks a deepening of ties between allies whose relationship has in the past centred on oil-rich Saudi Arabia backing Pakistan’s economy during difficult periods, and in return Pakistan’s powerful army lending support to Saudi Arabia and its royal family.

As the guardians of some of the most holy sites in the birthplace of Islam, the Saudi royal family carries vast religious influence in Pakistan, a staunchly conservative and mostly Muslim country of 208 million people.

Saudi Arabia has in recent months helped keep Pakistan’s economy afloat by propping up rapidly dwindling foreign reserves with a $6bn loan, giving it breathing room as it negotiates a bailout with the International Monetary Fund.

Pakistan has shown appreciation by treating Prince Mohammed’s trip as the biggest state visit since one by Chinese President Xi Jinping in 2015, soon after Beijing announced plans to invest tens of billions of dollars on infrastructure in Pakistan as part of China’s Belt and Road initiative.

The Saudi leader has seen his reputation across the world plummet after he was linked to the brutal slaying and dismemberment of Mr Khashoggi inside the kingdom’s consulate in Istanbul in October last year.

The murder was “planned and perpetrated by Saudi officials”, according to the UN special rapporteur leading an independent human rights inquiry into the killing.

Prince Mohammed has been accused of personally instigating the killing, reporedly telling senior aides he wanted to use a “bullet” on the journalist in 2017, according to leaked Western intelligence reports.

Additional reporting by Reuters.