Saudi Arabia is expected to issue an amnesty for inmates who have been sentenced to flogging as a form of punishment, according to a newspaper report on Tuesday, as part of the kingdom’s steps to reform its legal system.

Okaz newspaper, citing unidentified sources, reported that supreme directives have been issued to pardon all those who have received flogging sentences as disciplinary punishment in connection to rulings that were passed before the Supreme Court ordered abolishing flogging earlier this year.

In April, the General Assembly of the Supreme Court, Saudi Arabia’s highest tribunal, instructed all courts to drop flogging sentences in disciplinary cases.

The flogging is to be replaced with jailing, fines or any other alternative penalties according to related regulations, the sources told Okaz.

In another major step hailed by rights advocates, Saudi Arabia earlier this year abolished death sentences and the execution of convicts who are minors.

Courts have been directed that jail sentences should not be longer than 10 years in cases involving minors charged with criminal acts, according to Saudi media.

SOURCE : GULF NEWS

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