Kuwait releases 22 Indian prisoners, reduces sentence of 97 inmates

Dubai: Kuwait has released 22 Indian prisoners and commuted the sentences of 97 others lodged in various prisons of the country after the emir reduced their sentences, according to Indian officials. [caption id=“attachment_4102809” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Representational image. Reuters[/caption] The list contains the names of 119 Indians in addition to the 15 Indian prisoners whose death sentences were recently commuted to life imprisonment. The emir of Kuwait has ordered immediate release of 22 Indian prisoners, Indian embassy in Kuwait City said in a statement. The sentences of 53 Indians have been reduced from life imprisonment to 20 years, it said. The emir of Kuwait has ordered a reduction of three quarters of the sentence of 18 Indians, a reduction of half period of the sentences of 25 and one quarter of the sentence of one, the statement said. The charges in most of the cases involved narcotics, drugs trading or consumption, theft, robbery and fraud among others. All the 15 prisoners whose death sentences have been converted to life imprisonment were convicted in drug-related charges, the statement said. The Indian mission said that it would provide all possible assistance for their travel to India after their release or completion of sentences. Efforts were also being made to help those Indian prisoners who have given their consent to spend rest of their sentence period in India. On Saturday, external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj had thanked the emir of Kuwait had reduced the sentences of the Indian nationals lodged in Kuwaitian jails. Kuwait has been an important trading partner for India. It is also the seventh largest crude supplier to India in 2016-17. Oil-rich Kuwait is home to around 900,000 Indians.