Balkh Central Jail releases 75 prisoners

BALKH (Ariana News): Some 75 prisoners, sentenced to less than 5 years in jail, have been released from Balkh Central Jail because of the coronavirus outbreak.

Bashir Tawhidi, deputy governor of Balkh, says that the prisoners have been let go on the president’s verdict.

According to him, there will be more releases. Following the warning of the Afghan Ministry of Public Health that to prevent the outbreak of the coronavirus in prisons was impossible as well as the virus would severely threaten the prisoners; the government has issued release order of thousands of prisoners. Reportedly, the 75 released prisoners include women and children.

The prisoners, who are now free men, complain about the poor condition of the prison saying that they lived under an awful atmosphere – 25 inmates in one cell each.

Haroon Aleem, the warden of the prisoner, confirms the poor condition of the prison, noting that the prison will soon be relocated to the place where the Swedish military PRT used to be stationed.

The presidential order on prisoner releases includes 9000 – 10,000 prisoners and all provinces have been instructed to finalize the implementation of the order.