President meets imprisoned mother's son, signs pardon release [WATCH]

Updated at 7:30pm to remove the son's name - In its statement the Office of the President named Mrs Cassar's son. However, his mother and his aunt have requested the media not to publish the son's name.

The President of the Republic George Abela has signed a pardon approved by the Cabinet today for the release of a woman jailed for not granting access to her son to her estranged husband.

A justice ministry official confirmed that the decree will be presented to Justice Minister Chris Said today, who will in turn inform the prison director at Corradino Correction Facility to release the woman, Anna Cassar. "She won't be sleeping there tonight," the official told MaltaToday.

In a statement, the Office of the President said that he had authorised the pardon and release of Cassar, 57, and that he had met her son. "After considering the circumstances of the case, including the recommendation and the Cabinet's and Attorney General's favourable review, the President decided that the pardon should be granted."

The Cabinet approved that the President of Malta considers a presidential pardon for the teacher who was jailed for three months after her 17-year-old son refused to visit his father, earlier in the day.

Cassar's sister also thanked lawyer Ludwig Caruana for having pushed forward the request for a presidential pardon.

"We are ready to forgive him [the father].  We will surpass this," her sister told journalists.

The woman, 57, was sentenced to three months' imprisonment after her estranged husband pressed charges against her for not allowing their son, then a minor, to visit him. A court of criminal appeal confirmed an earlier sentence handed down by the Magistrates' Court.

The mother entered Corradino prisons last week after Mr Justice Michael Mallia upheld an earlier decision of the Magistrates' Court. The woman had pleaded in court that her son, who is today 18, did not wish to meet his father and that she could not force him to.

In her appeal, the woman argued that the Magistrates Court had not made a distinction between a five-year-old and a 16-year-old who was in Sixth Form, who wished to continue studying instead of seeing his father, with whom he did not have good relations.

Lawyer Robert Abela - the son of the President of the Republic - signed the police reports filed by the father against the mother, leading the case raised by father against his estranged wife.

The woman, a teacher, has formally written to President George Abela, through her lawyer Leonard Caruana, asking him to issue a pardon as allowed in the Constitution of Malta. The President's Office confirmed receipt of the letter and forwarded it to Justice Minister Chris Said "for his consideration and advice".