Get this:

RABAT (Reuters) – King Mohammed of Morocco celebrated the birth of a son and heir on Thursday by ordering the release of more than 9,000 prisoners from Morocco’s crowded jails, one of the biggest royal pardons in the country’s history. — Morocco and Algeria Free Prisoners to Mark Birth

OK, let me say at the outset that I’m trying not to let my experiences in Morocco influence my judgment in this matter. That said — huh? What’s going on here? The king celebrates a new son by allowing 9,000 convicted criminals to go free and then reducing the sentences of another forty thousand?

Turns out Morocco’s jails are horrendously overcrowded, so maybe he was casting about for a pretense. Perhaps he was sending the petty crime offenders home. Yet in neighboring Algeria, they’re jumping on the bandwagon for no other reason than to commemorate the birthday of the Prophet Mohammed. Five thousand prisoners will be freed, and it sounds as if they’re not all lightweights: “The Algerian amnesty … included some inmates sentenced to life but not those jailed for terrorism, corruption, drug trafficking or rape, the radio said.”

In for murder? Pack your bags!

This entry was posted on Friday, May 9th, 2003 at 8:53 pm and is filed under Miscellany.. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.