(COLOMBO) – The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has pardoned 44 Sri Lankan prisoners by a Royal Order during the holy month of Ramadan in April 2024, Foreign Ministry officials said.
They said the Royal Pardon is the first ever to be granted to Sri Lankans and the group of 44 is due to be repatriated to the country over the next few days.
The Sri Lankans are currently being held in several jails across the UAE but the nature of their offences or crime was not known.
The Sri Lankan embassy in the UAE along with the local authorities and Foreign Ministry officials will coordinate the safe return of the freed prisoners to Sri Lanka, they added.
Meanwhile, Sri Lanka’s Ambassador in Abu Dhabi, Udaya Indrarathne extended appreciation to the Government of the United Arab Emirates and its Ministries of Foreign Affairs and Interior for making arrangements to pardon the Sri Lankans.
The UAE which has a large concentration of a Sri Lankan work force has in the past offered periodical amnesty to illegal and unregulated migrant workers but there has never known to be a Royal Pardon for Sri Lankans held in UAE jails.
