MAKKAH: A government committee set up to look after convicts and ex-convicts is taking care of over 400 families of men sent to jail in the month of Ramadan, said Adil Muhammad Nur Ghubashi, chairman of the committee.
“We are keen to reform convicts and ex-convicts. We want to protect the wider public by making offenders useful members of society. We want to do this by giving them religious, psychological and social training,” said Ghubashi.
He added that the committee works to see released prisoners are rehabilitated into society and do not re-offend. “The committee also provides the families of prisoners and those released financial help and moral support,” he said.
“The activities and programs of the committee are designed to serve the inmates of prisons and penitentiaries, their families and released prisoners,” he added.
Recalling the committee’s achievements in the last two years, Ghubashi said it has honored more than 50 male and female students for excelling in their studies, supplied 222 students with schoolbags, donated religious and cultural books to prison libraries, organized a number of religious lectures, and held Qur’an and Sunnah recitation and memorization contests in which 77 male and 35 female contenders were given prizes.
The chairman said the committee thrives on the donations it receives from philanthropists, businessmen and dignitaries in Makkah. He also praised the wife of late King Fahd who donated SR200,000 to the committee. He also said the Islamic Development Bank supplies the organization with frozen meat to distribute among the families of prisoners. “We also receive foodstuffs such as rice, dates and other items from organizations and individuals,” he added.
Ghubashi said the committee has, in the first half of this holy month, distributed half a million riyals in aid to the families of prisoners. According to him, the committee was also able to provide 200 jobs for released prisoners, 300 jobs for their siblings and other employment opportunities for their daughters.
A number of people in Makkah praised the work of the committee describing it as a true expression of social solidarity. “The work this committee is undertaking is excellent. They are showing solidarity with members of the wider society,” said Mahmoud Sulaiman Al-Bittar, chief of Al-Hijlah district in Makkah.
He said his district has been closely cooperating with the committee to provide support to families of prisoners. The support includes money, clothes, foodstuffs and stationery.
On their part, the families of prisoners praised the committee’s work. Um Hassan, who is in her late 30s, said, “As soon as there is something to be distributed, the committee immediately asks us to come and take our share. My ex-husband and the father of my five children was sent to jail for seven years on a drug-related offense. He has served three years and has four left to do.”
“The committee gives us foodstuffs, coupons to buy goods from malls and supermarkets and other financial help,” she said.
“This is the first time I have come to the headquarters of the committee to receive assistance. I am happy and thankful,” said Um Talal Mahmoud, a mother of five whose husband is serving a two-year jail sentence for drugs.
