Tanzanian president pardons 4 485 prisoners

[dArKeR]

Tanzanian President Benjamin Mkapa on Monday pardoned 4 485 prisoners as a gesture of goodwill on the 40th anniversary of the union between then Tanganyika and Indian Ocean islands of Zanzibar and Pemba, the government announced.

"Those who have benefited from the presidential clemency include convicts of minor offences with sentences not exceeding three years' imprisonement, the elderly, sick, pregnant and breastfeeding inmates," Home Affairs Ministry permanent secretary Bakari Mahiza said in a statement.

The statement said prisoners on death row and those serving life terms, including those whose death penalties were commuted, are not covered by the pardon.

http://www.mg.co.za/Content/l3.asp?ao=58791

What the hecks going on? In the US, Africans caught with drugs spend 10-15 years in prison while the Republican Whites, Noel Bush, Limbaugh..., get off with nothing.