Iraq PM says 2,500 detainees will be freed

[Barrett808]

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said Tuesday that 2,500 Iraqi prisoners will be freed from U.S. and Iraqi-run detention centers as part of reconciliation efforts in the country.

The first batch of about 500 detainees will be released Wednesday, al-Maliki said at a news conference.

The prisoners to be freed will be chosen by a committee that will review their cases, he said, adding that loyalists of ousted leader

Saddam Hussein and his Baath Party "and terrorists whose hands are stained with the blood of the Iraqi people" will be excluded.

Al-Maliki, a Shiite, said he decided to free the detainees as part of efforts to achieve "reconciliation and national dialogue" among

Iraq's fractured ethnic and religious parties.

Sunni Arabs, who were dominant under Saddam's regime but lost power after the U.S.-led invasion, have complained of random detentions and maltreatment of prisoners at the hands of the Shiite-led government.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060606/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq_prisoners

[flamingyouth]

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