Morocco’s king pardoned 29 prisoners imprisoned for “terrorism or extremism” offences as a gesture commemorating the conclusion of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, the justice ministry announced.

According to a statement released late Sunday by the justice ministry, the 29 detainees were pardoned “after having publicly acknowledged their loyalty to the sanctity of the nation and national institutions, altered their ideological orientations, and repudiated extremism and terrorism.”

Twenty-three of those who have been pardoned will be released, while the remaining six will have their sentences shortened.

The 29 are among 958 people who were condemned by various courts around the kingdom and were pardoned by Morocco’s King Mohammed VI to commemorate the conclusion of Ramadan’s Eid al-Fitr festival.

In 2017, the North African country established a reintegration programme in its jails dubbed “Moussalaha,” or “Reconciliation,” aimed at convicts convicted of “terrorism” who were prepared to reconsider their views.

According to government data, security forces have demolished over 2,000 extremist cells and made over 3,500 arrests related to terrorism since 2022.

Since 2003, when five suicide bombers murdered 33 people and injured hundreds more in Casablanca, the country has mostly been spared terrorist strikes.

However, during a hiking trip in the High Atlas mountains in 2018, two Scandinavian visitors were slain by terrorists affiliated with the Islamic State group.

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