RlYADH: Saudi Arabia on Tuesday denied claims that two transgender women from Pakistan were beaten to death in police custody after being arrested in Saudi Arabia along with more than 30 other members of the community.
Reports of the deaths had been decried in an activists` media conference on Monday in Peshawar. However, a statement from the Saudi interior ministry early on Tuesday said the reports were `totally wrong and nobody was tortured`.
The ministry acknowledged that one Pakistani had died in custody after the arrests.
`One 61-year-old person suffered a heart attack and died in the hospital after being treated,` the statement read.
`The Pakistani embassy looked into this case and another one. Procedures have started to send the body back to his country, it added.
The Saudi media reported last week that police had arrested around 35 people after they raided a party where men were dressed as women and were wearing make-up.
