Kuwait: Unprecedented expansion of Emiri pardon rules from 2022

Abu Dhabi: Kuwait’s correctional institutions were instructed to expand the numbers of those covered by the amnesty for the next year 2022, to include large numbers of all nationalities, local media reported.

The move will include immediate release of certain inmates, reducing their penalties, and dropping their debts, sources told Al Qabas.

The sources said the new amnesty rules will cover convicts in cases that were not previously listed, in the context of reducing the number of inmates inside prisons without prejudice to security.

The rules will take into account the deportation of some expatriates to spend the rest of their sentences in their countries.

Starting next week, Kuwait will launch a new electronic tag system for convicts on bail or probation, which allows people sentenced to up to three years to be released from prison and stay at home while wearing the tags.

Inmates serving longer terms can benefit from the tagging system in the last three years of their sentence.

The inmate house arrest and tracking system applies only to Kuwaitis and stateless people [Bidoon], not expatriates.

Overcrowded facilities and lack of flights to fly out deportees have prompted Kuwait’s Interior Ministry to temporarily suspend its crackdown on offenders of labour and residency laws.

Temporary prisons were so overcrowded that absconding workers and other illegals awaiting repatriation could no longer be sent to them for health concerns amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Security sources said the decision was prompted by the health situation in the country, and in line with precautionary measures to prevent the spread of coronavirus among detainees.