Harare- President Emmerson Mnangagwa has granted a wide-ranging general amnesty for prisoners, ordering the release of all female inmates, juveniles, and the terminally ill among several other categories, the government announced Tuesday.

The clemency order, enacted under the President’s constitutional powers of mercy, marks a significant reduction of the national prison population. Government Spokesperson Nick Mangwana confirmed the amnesty in an official statement.

The pardon applies to nine specific categories of prisoners. In addition to all convicted female prisoners and juveniles, it includes any inmate serving a sentence of 48 months or less, all prisoners aged 60 and above, and all prisoners with disabilities. Those being held in Open Prison facilities will also be released.

Furthermore, the amnesty extends to life sentence prisoners who have served at least 20 years of their term.

For prisoners serving sentences longer than 48 months and who do not fall under the immediate release categories, the government has granted a one-quarter remission of their remaining effective sentence.

The order also provides for the compassionate release of inmates who have been medically certified as terminally ill.

The broad amnesty is expected to have a substantial impact on Zimbabwe’s penal system. While the government statement did not specify the exact number of inmates to be affected, criteria such as gender, age, and sentence length suggest a release numbering in the thousands.

Such periodic clemency orders are typically issued to alleviate congestion in the country’s prisons. The last major amnesty was granted in 2023.