Bahrain: 126 inmates to serve alternative penalties

Cairo: 126 prisoners have been found eligible to a Bahraini law replacing imprisonment with alternative penalties, a procedure aimed to rehabilitate offenders, according to a Bahraini prosecution official.

The Alternative Penalties and Procedures Law went into force in Bahrain in 2018 allowing for alternatives that include doing community service, attending rehabilitation courses and paying to repair the damage caused by unlawful acts.

Assistant Attorney General Wael Buallay said that a judge in charge of penalty enforcement has decreed replacing the custodial sentences for the 126 with alternative penalties equal to the remaining time of their terms.

The alternatives for them range from getting subjected to electronic surveillance and a ban on going to certain places, the official added.

Replace jail

The latest group brings to 3,224 the overall number of inmates convicted on different charges in Bahrain who have benefited from the law on alternative penalties since it went into effect in May 2017.

“There is another group of convicts whose cases are being examined by the Verdict Enforcement Directorate in coordination with public prosecution for a legal and security study in a preliminary step to replace their jailing under the law,” Buallay added.

This law, further boosting human rights in the country, helps maintain societal and family stability as well rehabilitate offenders by encouraging them to mend their ways, observers say.