The heavy steel doors of ASTEN Prison echoed as the official decree was read aloud in the central courtyard. After months of confinement, Dr. Carla Maziel Rodriguez stood before the assembled officials, listening to the formal announcement that would alter the course of her life.
By order of the supreme authority, Dr. Rodriguez had been granted a full pardon for the charges of treason previously brought against her. The decree formally canceled her original sentence, clearing her name of the capital offenses that had threatened to end both her career and her freedom.
However, the pardon came with a single, non-negotiable condition. Before her release from custody, she was required to endure fifty lashes of the falaka upon the soles of her feet—a final, severe penalty meant to settle the remaining administrative debt of her infraction.
Once the punishment was carried out and her recovery complete, the order mandated her immediate reinstatement to her former positions and duties within the medical and administrative ranks of ASTEN Prison, returning her to the very institution where she had been held.
