Cuba pardons nearly 800 prisoners at pope's request

Cuba has pardoned 787 prisoners in response to Pope Francis's call for world leaders to show mercy to inmates, authorities said Tuesday. The communist country's powerful Council of State, headed by President Raul Castro, issued the sweeping pardon in honour of the Jubilee year declared by the pope, said a front-page notice in the official communist party newspaper, Granma.
Pope Francis declared the Jubilee year last December, a special time of remission of sins and universal pardon. Cuba said those pardoned included women, youths and sick inmates. "The crimes for which they were punished, their conduct while fulfilling their sentences and the time served were taken into consideration," it said. Prisoners convicted of murder, homicide, corrupting minors, rape, drug trafficking and other "extremely dangerous" crimes were excluded. Francis kicked off the Jubilee with calls to world leaders to improve prison conditions for inmates and consider granting them amnesty. In September last year, Cuba released 3,522 prisoners as a goodwill gesture ahead of a visit by the pope.