King Mohammed VI granted a royal pardon to 1,788 people convicted by courts across Morocco ahead of this year’s Throne Day celebrations, Morocco’s Justice Ministry announced Wednesday. According to the ministry, 1,679 inmates serving prison sentences received pardons. Of those, nine were released after receiving pardons for the remainder of their sentences, while 1,668 had their prison terms reduced. The King also commuted one death sentence to life imprisonment and reduced one life sentence to a fixed-term prison sentence. The royal pardon was granted ahead of Morocco’s annual Throne Day national holiday, which commemorates King Mohammed VI’s accession to the throne on July 30, 1999.