Princess Lalla Salma is the wife of King Mohammed the Sixth of Morocco. On 28th February their second child, a daughter, was born. The new baby, Princess Lalla Khadija, is sister to Crown Prince Moulay Hassan who was born in 2003.
 King Mohammed the Sixth, aged 43, became the King of Morocco when his father died in 1999. Although the King has strong powers, Morocco is a constitutional monarchy. This means that, similar to the UK, the king is the head of the country but there are elected members of parliament and a prime minister.
To celebrate his daughter’s birth the King ordered one of his ministers to announce the early release of 8,863 people in prison. This included 278 foreigners. The minister also said that the sentences of 24,268 prisoners would be reduced. This included 11 men sentenced to death. Their punishment has been changed to life imprisonment.
The minister wore traditional Moroccan clothes on live television to make the announcement – which is unusual in Morocco.
The minister also stressed that the death sentences would be changed to life imprisonment. Some people think this is a sign that the King wants his parliament to abolish capital punishment – or the death penalty. No prisoner has been executed in Morocco since 1994.
Morocco – a Muslim country – used to be a French colony. It became independent in 1956. Since then over 500 prisoners have been executed. If it ends capital punishment Morocco will be the first Arab country to do so.
Since the end of the Second World War in 1945 many countries have stopped using the death penalty. About 122 countries no longer allow capital punishment. There are 68 countries – including China, Singapore and some states in the USA – that still use the death penalty.
This is not the first time that prisoner releases have been used to celebrate special events in Morocco. In 2005 10,000 prisoners were released early. They were pardoned during Morocco’s 50th anniversary celebrations of becoming an independent country. | 
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