President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih on Saturday pardoned the sentences of 105 inmates serving time in prison, as a precautionary measure to protect the health of convicts and prison personnel.
According to a statement released by the Ministry of Home Affairs, the decision was made by the powers granted to the President under the Clemency Act.
The state further stated that these steps were taken having considered the results of each individual inmate across rehabilitation programmes, the circumstances of their accommodation, likely dangers posed to society, the nature of their crimes and other relevant factors.
Noting that experts have stated the necessity of reducing the prison population to ensure the good health of detainees and prison personnel alike, Home Ministry noted that the convicts' sentences were pardoned based on the counsel and guidelines provided by the United Nations subcommittee on Prevention of Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (SPT), International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNDOC).
Home Ministry also appealed to the public, requesting people to "cooperate with the expert-referred decisions made by authorities", in order "to maintain public safety in trying times".
In response to the first local transmission of the coronavirus identified on April 15, HPA issued a Red alert for Male City and placed the greater Male region under lockdown, which was later extended till May 1.
The lockdown prohibits all civilians sans those with special permits to leave their residences, as well as a ban on all land and sea transportation within the area.
Maldives now has 34 confirmed and 18 active cases of COVID-19, with a total of 16 recoveries. A total of 1,053 individuals were quarantined while 61 others were placed in isolation.
The World Health Organization has classified the spread of COVID-19 as a global pandemic. The novel coronavirus has infected over two million people and claimed over 156,141 lives around the world. However, out of those infected, more than 582,599 people have recovered.
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