Public Prosecution enforces Alternative Punishment Law on 60 convicts

Manama, Apr. 12 (BNA): Attorney General Dr. Ali bin Fadhel Al-Buainin said within the framework of enforcing the Alternative Punishment Law, in line with the royal directives, and taking into consideration the convicts’ personal and family conditions as well as humanitarian reasons justifying changing the jail sentences, the Public Prosecution has received a request from the Interior Ministry’s Verdict Enforcement Directorate to look into changing the jail sentences for a number of inmates at the Reform and Rehabilitation Centre. The request was submitted in light of a study conducted by the directorate on their personal conditions and given that they pose no security risk. The Public Prosecution has enforced the provisions of the law on 60 convicts who served half the period of their jail sentence after studying their conditions in light of the regulations of the Alternative Punishment Law. A sentence was issued replacing the remaining imprisonment period with alternative punishment types that are consistent with the current circumstances. The Attorney General explained that the penal policy adopted by the Kingdom of Bahrain, in light of the Alternative Punishment Law and the royal directives and which takes into consideration the humanitarian and social conditions without violating justice or personal rights, permitted to re-evaluate punishment on the basis of reform and the influential changes affecting the community. In line with this approach, and due to the current circumstances undergone by Bahrain and the whole world, a royal decree was issued recently pardoning 901 convicts. Therefore, the total number of inmates at the Reform and Rehabilitation Centre who benefited from the royal pardon, alongside those who benefited from changing their jail sentence over the past two months, has reached 1793 so far.