IDUL FITRI REMISSIONS FOR 207 NUSAKAMBANGAN PRISONERS

Cilacap, Central Java, Sept. 18 (ANTARA) - Some 207 prisoners in the notorious Batu jail on Nusakambangan Island are to receive a special remission on the occasion of the Idul Fitri festivity which falls on Sunday, September 20, 2009.

"They will get an average reduction of one month on their jail terms but none of them gets released," Supriyadi, head of the Batu penitentiary, said here on Friday.

However, 55 prisoners would not get a remission because 18 of them were non-Muslims, 17 had been sentenced to death and 20 others to life, he said.

Meanwhile, Marwan Adli, Nusakambangan Island's drug prison head, said there were 94 prisoners being proposed to get remission on Idul Fitri, but none one them will be freed.

In Central Java province, a total of 4,032 prisoners, out of the total of 10,353, got special remission I (not free) on the upcoming Idul Fitri, according to Bambang Winahyo, head of the Central Java Provincial Legal and Human Rights office's prison division.

In addition to them, some 159 got special remission II or they would be immediately freed, he said. In total, 4,191 prisoners got special remission I and II, he said.

Besides, 247 prisoners got conditional special remission and 159 others got delayed special remission, he said.

Such remissions are applied each year in commemoration of Independence Day and the religious holidays of Idul Fitri, Christmas, Waisak and Galungan, for which prisoners receive remissions depending on their religion.