From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Detainees in Iraq
Detainees in Iraq
As of December 2007 there are some 50,000 detainees A draft law approved by the government of Prime
Iraq,
in Iraq many of them untried and not accused of any Minister Nouri al-Maliki aims to identify prisoners who
crime. Iraqi authorities hold 24,000 detainees and the would be eligible for release under a general pardon. The
USA 26,000. Critics say only a small proportion of those law would have to be approved by Iraq’s parliament to go
held are ever prosecuted. into effect.
Sunni Arab leaders have repeatedly called for the re- Iraq’s national security adviser, Mowaffaq al-Rubaie,
lease of detainees in American custody, most of whom said that the draft law was aimed at boosting reconcilia-
are Sunni Arabs held as suspected insurgents. tion between majority Shi’ite and Sunni Arab Muslims.
There has been a sharp increase in detentions since The US military has said it intends to free most of its
the United States ’surge’ of mid-2007. Many prisoners detainees by the end of 2008.
are held without formal charges, and their fate is one of
many sensitive issues believed to be complicating efforts
to promote national reconciliation.
External links
The Iraqi cabinet approved a draft law on December • [1]
26 that will offer a general pardon to thousands of pris- • [2]
oners in US military and Iraqi custody, a government • Human Rights First; Command’s Responsibility:
spokesman said. "The cabinet has passed the general pardon Detainee Deaths in U.S. Custody in Iraq and
law, which will define who is eligible to be freed from all prisons, Afghanistan
both Iraqi and American," spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh told
Reuters.
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Detainees_in_Iraq&oldid=388795184"
Categories:
• Iraq stubs
• Iraq War
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