KARACHI, May 6: Two Nigerian women - one of them accompanied by her child - who had completed their jail sentences but remained imprisoned owing to non-availability of travel documents, were deported on Thursday evening, it is learnt. According to the sources, Ezeh Christiana and Sander Okoror along with her child left the country on a PIA flight to Dubai from where they would get a connecting Kenyan Airways flight to Nairobi en route to Nigeria.

Superintendent of the Special Prison for Women, Sheeba Shah, said that the special branch officials came to the prison on Thursday evening and took the women and the child to airport, where they were handed over to the aircraft captain.

She said that their tickets had been arranged by a philanthropist, who prefers to remain anonymous, on the request of the jail authorities. The philanthropist had also promised to provide more tickets for the destitute women and their children who were stranded here so that they could return to their countries, she added.

The jail official said that Ezeh Christina, who was carrying heroin, was arrested at the airport just before boarding a flight in December 2003 and brought to the prison on Dec 19, 2003. She was convicted under Section-6/9 b and sentenced to two years imprisonment and a fine of Rs50,000 was imposed on her and in default she had to undergo an additional imprisonment of three months.

Sander Okoror, who was also carrying drugs, was caught by customs sleuths at the airport. She was booked under Section-6/9 b in December 2003. She was convicted and sentenced to two years and a fine of Rs50,000 was imposed on her and in default of payment she had to undergo an additional imprisonment of three months.

The official said that with the departure of these two women and a child, the number of the stranded women and their children deported this week had risen to seven. Adama Camara, her son Miracle Camara, and Ngozl Coullibally and her son Daniel Coullibally were deported on May 3, she added.

The sources said that after the departure of seven women, there were four more women whose sentences had expired but languishing in the prison for want of travelling documents from their respective governments.

Iranian national Nahita Murtaza and her teenaged daughter Anhita Murtaza were sentenced under the Foreigners’ Act in September 2003 and their sentence was expired on Dec 3, 2003. Mr Murtaza, who has also completed his sentence under the same Act, is also detained in the next door Central prison.

An Indian national, Maya Wall Singh, was sentenced under the Pakistan Entry Act. She had completed her sentence on April 20, 2004.

Aynura Yaqub of Azerbaijan was convicted under Section-6/9 b. She completed her sentence on Feb 9, 2005.

Loveth Oghogho of Nigeria, convicted under Section-6/9 b, has also completed her sentence on March 6, 2005.

The sources said that all these foreign women would remain imprisoned in an alien country till their respective governments issue them the travel documents so that they could return home, hopefully soon.