President J.A. Kufuor has in consultation with the Prisons Service Council granted amnesty to 656 prisoners on humanitarian grounds.

A statement signed by Mr Albert Kan-Dapaah, Minister for the Interior said the amnesty was part the commemoration of Ghana's 47th republican status on July 1, and in accordance with article 72 of the 1992 Constitution.

The amnesty covers 634 first offenders who had served half or more of their sentences, ten who were seriously ill and incapacitated and who would not pose any threat to society, two nursing mothers and two others serving at the president's pleasure.

Seven prisoners on death row had also their sentences commuted to life sentences while one prisoner on life sentence, who had served over ten years, had had his sentence commuted to a definite term of 20 years.

Source: GNA