Kuwait has pardoned up to 2,280 inmates and ordered the immediate release of 446 others, as per an Amiri decree, its interior ministry announced on Thursday.

Some 1,633 prisoners have had their sentences commuted, while deportation proceedings against 169 inmates will be halted and 32 others remain incarcerated for other offenses, the ministry said in a statement.

Meanwhile, another 608 inmates facing fines have also been pardoned, the statement added.

The interior ministry's Undersecretary for Correctional Institutions Major General Abdullah Al-Muhanna wished the pardoned inmates well, thanking all those who have contributed to this humanitarian initiative.