His Excellency Sheikh Khalid bin Rashid Al Khalifa, Director General of the General Administration for the Implementation of Alternative Judgments and Punishments, confirmed that the royal pardon for hundreds of those convicted in various cases reflects the inspiring leadership of His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, the great king of the country, may God protect and preserve him, and the spirit of… His paternal and human majesty, which every Bahraini citizen is aware of, as this royal pardon stems from the royal vision and an expression of the values and principles of the reform era and in harmony with the values of tolerance and humanity and the national and civilizational constants on which the Kingdom of Bahrain works and takes it as a starting point in all situations and all circumstances.
This came in a telephone conversation with Bahrain TV, during which he praised the support of His Royal Highness Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, the Crown Prince and Prime Minister, may God protect him, for reform projects and initiatives, and His Highness’s keenness to provide all conditions that help the beneficiaries of the royal pardon as well as alternative punishments. To integrate into society, within the framework of the criminal justice system. This includes His Highness’s directives to provide training and rehabilitation programs and suitable job opportunities for those included in the royal pardon to integrate them into society.
In response to a question regarding the announcement of the General Administration for the Implementation of Alternative Sentences and Punishments to replace the sentences of 210 inmates at the Correction and Rehabilitation Center, and to add 47 to the open prisons program, Sheikh Khalid bin Rashid explained that the announcement of additional numbers of beneficiaries of alternative punishments and open prisons represents a qualitative leap in the human rights process. The number of beneficiaries from the application of the law since the beginning of its implementation in the year 2018 until now has reached about 6,702 beneficiaries, adding that this surge in the number of beneficiaries is due to the royal directives to continue working on expanding the implementation of the provisions of the Alternative Penal Code, and the instructions of His Excellency the Minister of the Interior, to follow up Implementing the provisions of the law and providing services and rehabilitation and training programs for beneficiaries, to confirm that Bahrain is indeed on the right path.
He pointed to the exemplary and successful start of the open prisons program, where 47 inmates of the Correction and Rehabilitation Center were enrolled in the program, which includes well-studied rehabilitation programs and is based on a modern vision of correctional and rehabilitative thought for inmates. Among the beneficiaries are those sentenced to life imprisonment, and this is evidence of the success of the program, which relies on this rehabilitative thought, and confirms that Replacing the deprivation of liberty with an alternative punishment achieves greater success because it gives hope to the beneficiary and puts him on the right path by giving him another opportunity to reform himself and not return to committing the crime.
During his television intervention, the Director General of the General Administration for the Implementation of Alternative Sentences and Punishments touched on the system of rehabilitative programs that are applied to beneficiaries of alternative punishments, noting that the Alternative Punishments Project and the Open Prisons Programme, and the successes and qualitative achievements it has achieved, are due in large part to the provision of programmes. Educational, training and reform plans, capable of rehabilitating inmates and correcting their behavior in a way that contributes to their gradual integration into society, pointing out that the Kingdom of Bahrain is one of the countries with the lowest rate of recidivism in the world at 2.5% of the total number of beneficiaries of the alternative punishments programme.
