AHEAD of the celebration of his 10-year reign today, King Mohammed VI of Morocco, has granted pardon to 24,865 prisoners, and commuted 32 death sentences.
The 45-year-old king will celebrate 10 years since he was crowned king after the death of his father Hassan II.
The Moroccan monarch traditionally gives hundreds, even thousands, of pardons to inmates each year as the country celebrates the Feast of the Throne.
In selecting who should be pardoned, the king, according to Agence France Presse (AFP) yesterday, citing the Moroccan justice ministry in a statement, took into account "humanitarian considerations in allowing the prisoners back into society," which led to the release of 517 women who are pregnant or have children and 137 minors.
In another "magnanimous gesture", Mohammed VI pardoned 659 inmates of different nationalities and commuted 32 death sentences to life imprisonment, the ministry added.
Moroccan courts still hand down death sentences but no execution has been carried out since 1994.
Morocco's coalition government regained its majority in parliament on Wednesday when Mohammed drafted an opposition party leader into the cabinet.
