Status on how many South African citezens are imprisoned in foreign countries

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NATIONAL ASSEMBLY

FOR WRITTEN REPLY

QUESTION NO: 2264

PUBLISHED IN INTERNAL QUESTION PAPER NO 28 OF 13 NOVEMBER 2009

Mr K S Mubu (DA) to ask the Minister of International Relations and Cooperation:
(1) (a) How many South African citizens are imprisoned in foreign countries as at the latest specified date for which information is available,
(b) how many of these persons have been convicted of dealing in drugs and
(c) in each particular country of imprisonment, how many are
(i) men and
(ii) women that were convicted of drug dealing;
(2) Whether any of them have the possibility of serving their terms in South Africa; if not, what is the position in this regard; if so, how many?
REPLY:

(1) (a) The Department is aware of 1,062 South African citizens who are incarcerated abroad as on 18 November 2009. The number reflected are known cases where citizens exercised their right to request consular assistance in terms of the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations, 1963.
(b) 691 (65%) of South African citizens are detained (abroad) for drug related offences.
(c) Appended as Annex A is a breakdown of detentions per country including the gender for drug related offences.
(i) Male: 362
(ii) Female: 329
(2) Because of Government’s Policy not to enter into Prisoner Transfer Agreements, no prisoner has the possibility of serving their terms in South Africa.
Where requests for release on humanitarian grounds have been received, these have been considered according to the approved Departmental criteria.

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