UAE pardons 855 prisoners ahead of Eid Al-Adha

United Arab Emirates President Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed al-Nahyan in Kuwait’s Bayan Palace December 15, 2009 [Reuters/Stephanie McGehee]

The president of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Khalifa Bin Zayed Al-Nahyan, has ordered the release of 855 inmates serving various sentences, on the annual Muslim celebration of Eid Al-Adha.

The move comes as part of the UAE’s: “Humanitarian initiatives based on the values of forgiveness and tolerance,” according to a royal statement. It added that the pardon was also aimed at: “Offering the inmates a second chance in life.”

Every year ahead of Eid Al-Adha, Al-Nahyan carries out this pardon: “To strengthen family ties and bring happiness and pleasure to the hearts of mothers and children and give the released prisoners the opportunity to rethink their future and return to the track of successful social and professional life.”

READ: British MPs urge government to suspend ‘secretive’ Gulf fund over human rights concerns

Unless otherwise stated in the article above, this work by Middle East Monitor is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. If the image(s) bear our credit, this license also applies to them. What does that mean? For other permissions, please contact us.