29 Aug 2019, 9:00 AM
The current administration has released 206 convicts from prison since December, Home Minister Sheikh Imran Abdulla told lawmakers on Thursday.
Imran was summoned to parliament after Independent MP Ibrahim Naseem tabled a question concerning allegations of President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih pardoning or granting clemency to prisoners convicted of serious crimes ahead of April’s parliamentary elections. The MP for Thulusdhoo asked for the number of such prisoners released between December 1 and June 20 after their sentences were reduced.
The president did not pardon or commute sentences of prisoners in connection with the polls, the home minister responded. But the Maldives has a tradition of newly-elected presidents granting pardons and commuting sentences, he added.
The 206 prisoners who were released since December included 79 people who were convicted of serious crimes. But none of them were released before the April 6 elections, he stressed.
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