RABAT: Nearly nine thousand inmates including more than 200 foreigners were being released from Moroccan prisons starting on Friday under a pardon granted by King Mohammed VI to mark the birth of his daughter this week.

Justice Minister Mohamed Bouzoubaa said 8,836 prisoners including 278 foreigners would be released following the birth on Wednesday of Princess Lalla Khadija, the king's second child.

The monarch also reduced the sentences of a further 24,218 prisoners, including 11 men whose death sentences were commuted to life imprisonment.

This is one of the biggest pardons since November 2005, when King Mohammed pardoned 10,000 prison inmates to mark the 50th anniversary of Moroccan independence from France.

The newly born princess is the sister to the heir to the throne, Prince Hassan, born in 2003.—AFP