Manama: In a legal first in Bahrain, a septuagenarian had his two-month jail sentence commuted into house arrest under a recently ratified law for alternative punishments.
The defendant was found guilty of claiming he was working in a lawyer’s bureau and took 2,200 Bahraini dinars from an individual as fees for legal services.
However, when the victim called the bureau to inquire about his case, he discovered that the septuagenarian, a Bahraini national, was an impostor and that he did not work for the lawyer as he had claimed.
A court of first instance sentenced the old man to two months, but his lawyer requested that the sentence be commuted to community service with regard to his advanced age.
The judge accepted the plea and ordered that the defendant work as a gardener at a ministry for two months.
The lawyer later argued that his client had suffered a severe health crisis and was bedridden for a long time, until he recovered.
His physical weakness forced him to stay at home and he would be at health risk if he exerted strenuous efforts, especially that he suffered from asthma, the lawyer said as he presented a medical report supporting his argument.
The court of appeals on Wednesday accepted the plea and ruled a two-month house arrest. The decision was based on Law 18 of 2017 on penalties and alternatives procedures reviewed by the cabinet in April and ratified in July.
The law stipulates that the alternative penalty should be freedom-depriving, but paves the way for the reintegration of the offender into society.
Alternative penalties include community service, residence in a specific place, prohibiting access to a specific place or places, electronic observation and training programmes.
