Kuwait mulls deporting foreign infectious-disease prisoners
Step aims at preventing spread of contagion, cutting medical costs
Cairo: Kuwait authorities are studying the possibility of pardoning and deporting foreign prisoners who suffer from infectious diseases such as Aids, Kuwait newspaper Al Jarida said Tuesday.
The move is being considered by the country’s criminal prosecution and the Interior Ministry’s prison sector, the paper said, citing unnamed sources.
The step is motivated by the serious health condition of those inmates, fears of spread of their diseases to other prisoners as well as the high costs of treating them in the country, according to the report..
“Enforcing this step will take place after listing the number of the infected prisoners, the court sentences issued against them, the terms they have already served and their respective health condition based on certified health reports,” the sources added. “In view of all this, the pardon decrees will be considered after approval from the prosecutor-general.”
Prosecutors are considering pardon for jailed sufferers of Aids and Hepatitis, they added.
There was no immediate comment from Kuwaiti authorities.