Morocco's king grants biggest royal pardon

RABAT, Mar 2 (Reuters) King Mohammed of Morocco pardoned or reduced the prison sentences of 33,054 people to mark the birth this week of his daughter, Princess Lalla Khadija, the Justice Ministry said.

It was the largest number of prisoners ever involved in a royal pardon, which is customary in the North African kingdom to mark national and religious holidays and special occasions.

Some 8,836 prisoners will walk free and another 24,218 had their sentences reduced, said a Justice Ministry statement released late yesterday and carried by the official news agency MAP.

Among those pardoned were 65 people with chronic illnesses or physical handicaps, 167 elderly people, 53 pregnant women or mothers and 417 foreign prisoners.

The pardon was motivated partly by humanitarian considerations and took its inspiration from the ''ideals and noble values'' of the Mohammed VI foundation for the reintegration of prisoners, the ministry said.

Morocco's total prison population is around 56,000, according to justice ministry officials.

''The releases have already begun and could take as long as a week to be completed,'' a ministry spokesman said.

Morocco's 53 prisons are often criticised by local human rights groups over their overcrowding and desperate conditions.

Hundreds of inmates are suspected Islamist radicals who were rounded up in police raids after suicide bomb attacks in 2003 in Casablanca and given trials criticised by rights groups.

The government insists the trials were carried out in respect of human rights.

REUTERS SP KN1514