Prisoner release 'largest since war began'
Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki released nearly 600 detainees today, making good on a pledge intended to ease feuding between Sunni Arabs and Shiites.
The detainees were the first of 2,000 prisoners who al-Maliki promised would be freed from Iraq’s most notorious prisons over a 30-day period in an apparent effort to ease anger among minority Sunnis.
He has stressed, however that the detainee release plan excludes loyalists of ousted leader Saddam Hussein, as well as “terrorists.”
The government said 2,000 detainees whose cases have been reviewed will be released in the coming days in batches of about 500.
The first 594 were released today from US- and Iraqi-run prisons around Iraq, including Abu Ghraib.
Released inmates dropped off at a bus station in Baghdad kissed the ground and sat down and cheered.
US military spokesman Lt Col Kier-Kevin Curry said it was a joint decision and would be the largest release over a 30-day period since the war began in March 2003.
