Zeinab Al Khawaja, Irina Bojutova released

Manama : Two female convicts have been released on grounds of humanitarian reasons, announced First Advocate-General at the Public Prosecution Abdulrahman Al-Sayed.

Zeinab Al Khawaja and Irina Bojutova were serving prison sentences at the Women’s Reformation and Rehabilitation Centre (WRCC), alongside their sons, aged 16 months and four years, respectively.

Al Sayed said that the decision was taken in response to the report issued by the Office of the Ombudsman following its visit to WRCC.

Although suitable living requirements and care were provided for the two inmates and their sons, the Office of the Ombudsman recommended, in its report, the need to consider suspending the sentence because of the psychological situation, caused mainly by being in the centre, he said.

The Public Prosecution then referred the matter to the sentence execution judge to take necessary action regarding the recommendations in the report of the Office of the Ombudsman, he added.

It’s worth noting that Zainab was serving 37 months in prison after being convicted in several cases, while the Russian woman was sentenced to two years and 10 days behind the bars for prostitution.