NINE of the eleven Jamaicans incarcerated in Cuba have been pardoned by the Cuban Government and will return to Jamaica in the coming days, Jamaica’s foreign ministry announced yesterday.

“In an announcement on September 11, 2015, the Council of State of the Republic of Cuba advised that, on the occasion of the upcoming visit to Cuba of Pope Francis, some 3,522 prisoners would be granted pardons. It is understood that the decision was taken by the Council of State on the basis of criteria determined by the responsible ministries of the Cuban Government,” Jamaica’s foreign ministry said in a statement yesterday.

The nine Jamaicans who have been pardoned include eight men and one woman who were held for various offences, including possession of drugs and trafficking of illegal drugs. Minimum sentences handed down for such crimes start at 10 years and can exceed 25 years.

“Upon receipt of the formal notification from the Cuban Foreign Ministry, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade of Jamaica and the Embassy of Jamaica in Havana informed the next of kin who were designated as such by those incarcerated. The ministry and the Jamaican Embassy in Havana have assisted the pardoned prisoners and their families in the requisite procedures and formalities for the return to Jamaica. The members of the group are scheduled to begin departing Havana in short order,” a foreign ministry official said.

The ministry said it recognises, with appreciation, the gesture of goodwill by the Cuban Government.

Foreign Minister A J Nicholson recently came in for severe criticism for the handling of the case of Jamaican pilot Paul Stephens who was incarcerated in Qatar.

It took the Jamaican several weeks to get emergency travel documents to return home after he was pardoned.

Stephens, a pilot with the Qatar Airlines up to the time of his incarceration, spent close to four years in prison in Qatar before his pardon, but continued to plead his innocence.