Bahrain Mirror (Exclusive): Legal counselor Ibrahim Serhan explained the details of the decree by a law recently passed by the Foreign Affairs Committee of the House of Representatives, which is related to the Alternative Penal Code, pointing out that the authority to apply for alternative sentence has been transferred from the prison administration to the sentence execution office.

He added in a special statement to the Bahrain Mirror that the law has nothing new, both sides (prison administration and sentence execution office) are affiliated with the Interior Ministry.

According to the new law, the only body entitled to apply for a replacement of a penalty is the sentence execution office, which submits its application to the public prosecution office, which in turn makes a formal request to the execution judge. This means that neither the prisoner nor his family is able to apply for sentence replacement. 

However, Serhan noted that the judge is still entitled by law to replace half or all of the sentence if the sentence does not exceed five years in jail.

Arabic Version