Over 4,000 prisoners who were held for committing various petty crimes, have been released from jails following an amnesty announced by Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah, the director of prisons said yesterday. âThe number of prisoners who have been released from various jails is 4,134,â Maj. Gen. Ali ibn Hussein Al-Harithy said, according to the Saudi Press Agency.The prisons chief did not give a breakdown of the nationalities of the freed prisoners. According to a previous statement by Al-Harithy, they included 1,200 Yemenis who were jailed on various charges. Al-Harithy said the amnesty was still in force, meaning that more prisoners could be released by King Abdullah, who became the Kingdomâs ruler on Aug. 1. âThe amnesty has opened a new horizon for the released prisoners who will lead a new life inspired by the humanitarian gesture of the Saudi leadership,â he said.
King Abdullah opened his reign with a series of decisions that won the appreciation of both Saudis and expatriates. He announced a 15 percent salary increase for public servants beginning on Ramadan 1 (Oct. 4); he also pardoned five Libyans implicated in a plot to assassinate him two years ago. Yemenâs Saba news agency reported on Aug. 19 that Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh had telephoned King Abdullah to thank him for his decision to release 1,200 Yemenis who were in the Kingdomâs jails.