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Rabat – King Mohammed VI has granted a royal pardon to 483 people for the Eid al-Fitr holiday.
As is his custom for major religious and national holidays, the King offered a pardon to both inmates and people out on bail, according to a Ministry of Justice statement.
All of the 378 prisoners who received the royal pardon have received a reduction in their prison terms instead of a general release, state-owned media outlet Maghreb Arab Press reported.
The King also pardoned 105 people who are out on bail. Most of these, 59, will no longer have to pay the fines the court imposed on them.
Another 16 people will not have to serve their prison terms but will still have to pay their fines.
Twenty-nine people are exempt from fulfilling the rest of their prison terms, and one person received a pardon for both his prison term and his fine.
Last year, the King gave a royal pardon to 755 people on the occasion of Eid al-Fitr. The lower number this year may be a result of the King’s exceptional pardon in April.
On April 5, King Mohammed VI made an exceptional royal pardon for 5,654 people in light of COVID-19.
The royal pardon was just for a specific category of prisoners authorities had selected on strictly objective criteria according to the Ministry of Justice.
Although the pardons were to alleviate crowded prisons because of the pandemic, the release was to take place gradually.
“The beneficiaries of the royal pardon will be subject to surveillance, medical tests, as well as the necessary quarantine, at their home, to ensure their safety,” the ministry said.
The Moroccan prison administration has reported isolated cases of COVID-19 among prison staff or inmates in prisons across the country. One prison near Ouarzazate experienced a large outbreak in early April, but authorities managed to control the outbreak.
Read also: Morocco Announces COVID-19 Cases Among Staff at 2 More Prisons
