IVORY COAST: President Pardons 100 Female Prisoners

The President of Ivory Coast Laurent Gbagbo has signed a pardon decree to free about 100 female prisoners in the West African country.

The governor of the MACA prison in Abidjan told ‘Notre Voie', a daily closed to the ruling FPI party that this decision should be regarded as a strategy for demarcations and a way to prevent crime among female inmates, resulting from over population.

The pardon decree has been welcomed and acclaimed by many Human Rights and gender equity activists in Abidjan, the capital city of the country.

Kouao Lucie, Member of AFJCI, the Ivorian female lawyers association and co-founder of APROGED, one of the leading gender equality-oriented NGOs of the country, advocates: ‘[…] several problems arise with overpopulated prisons inmates, resulting in a higher degree of medical concern. In overcrowded females' blocks, particularly, high level of stress and elevate blood pressure lead to physical and psychological impairment and in an increase in obstetrical complaints'.

The presidential pardon is strictly limited to female detainees not sentenced for crimes, embezzlement and narcotics trafficking. It does not apply to cocoa top executives detained in MACA prison since June 2008, on charge of embezzlement.