stipulations on it, and at the national level national constitutions and specifically the Bahraini Constitution, have underlined personal freedom in all its manifestations (travel, choice of domicile, movement and otherwise) which is what is expressed by the Constitution of the Kingdom of Bahrain 2002 in more than one location by emphasizing freedom in the absolute sense and the legal approach to crimes and punishment, and that it is impermissible to impose any punishment or restriction of the freedom of any person except by a court decision and in accordance with sound legal procedures. 8. Article (19) of the Constitution of the Kingdom of Bahrain provides in Clauses (a) and (b) the following: “a. Personal freedom is guaranteed under the law. b. A person cannot be arrested, detained, imprisoned or searched, or his place of residence specified or his freedom of residence or movement restricted, except under the provisions of the law and under judicial supervision.” 9. It is observable that the punishment of imprisonment according to Article (54) of Decree-Law Number (15) of 1976 under the Penal Law as amended, is among the punishments suspending freedom and it is considered a basic penalty and it is defined as placing the convicted person in a correctional facility legally designated for this purpose for a period not in excess of ten days and where the maximum limit is not in excess of three years unless the Law stipulates otherwise. However, the punishment of imprisonment has negative effects diminishing its importance and limiting its role in reforming the convicted person. 10. Additionally Article (50) of the Bahraini Penal Code stipulates that civil forfeiture is among the punishments of misdemeanors, and civil forfeiture according to Article (53) of the same Law is to deprive the convicted person from all or part of the following rights and privileges: the right to hold public positions, the right to be a voter or to be elected to public councils, the right to be a voter or to be elected to professional associations and unions, the right to be a member of the board of directors of a shareholding company or its manager, the right to be a specialist, the right to be a director or publisher of one of the newspapers, the right to be the director of a school or scientific institute, to be awarded national or foreign medals of honor. 11. This entails the suspension of numerous individual civil and political rights, which are rights whose respect and protection were affirmed by the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights to which the Kingdom of Bahrain acceded under Law Number (56) of 2006, and also entails the suspension of the right of the individual to work and freedom to choose the job which is inconsistent with what is provided in Articles (6) and (7) of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights which the Kingdom of Bahrain joined under Law Number (10) of 2007. 12. While the experts on criminal policy emphasize that the aim of punishment is deterrence and reform we find that in light of the negative aspects abovementioned this would not be achieved, which requires exploring alternatives to the punishment of imprisonment, and thus there have been those who demand reforming the convicts and the criminals outside of the walls of prisons, in order to mitigate the negative consequences of placing persons in prisons and would eliminate the factors of 20