Bahrain Mirror: Activists confirmed that the female prisoners who were released by the Bahraini authorities within the framework of the new alternative penalties are criminal prisoner involved in drug abuse and prostitution.

The Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy (BIRD) director Ahmed Al-Wadaie said on his Twitter account "chaos took place after the Attorney General announced the release of 11 prisoners, and superseded the sentence with the community service or enrolling in training programs."

"In fact, those released included criminal prisoners convicted in drug related cases and most of them had served most of their term (...) The law in Bahrain is flawed and always excludes politicians, the most prominent example is the exemption act that is not apply to politicians," he added.

However, lawyer Ibrahim Serhan said "The first cases of the implementation of the alternative punishment law included 11 Russian women sentenced to jail terms up to 6 months over crimes involving drugs and prostitution."

He wondered "Where is the house arrest imposed on them? Or in which government institution will they serve the community?"

Attorney General Ali Al-Buainain announced on (May 20, 2018) that the Bahraini Public Prosecution began to implement the provisions of the Penal Code and alternative measures.

The Prosecution presented the deprivation of freedom sentences issued against eleven female defendants to the sentencing judge to issue alternative penalties. The judge ordered the defendants be sentenced to penalties alternative to imprisonment, which vary between community service and rehabilitation and damage correction programs. They have been released and the rules and legal controls for the implementation of the alternative punishments have been implemented.

Arabic Version