Iraqi PM releases nearly 600 prisoners

Baghdad: Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki on Wednesday released nearly 600 detainees, thereby keeping his promise to ease the feud between Sunni Arabs and Shiites.

The detainees were the first of 2,000 prisoners whom al-Maliki promised would be freed from Iraq's most notorious prisons in an apparent effort to ease anger among minority Sunnis over allegations of arbitrary detentions and mistreatment of prisoners.

Sectarian tensions surged when gunmen wearing police uniforms abducted 50 people in downtown Baghdad on Monday. They also shot death 21 Shiites north of the capital, including students pulled from their minivans.

Police said on Wednesday that 15 of the kidnapped people had been released, some with signs of torture, but provided no details on their identities.

Al-Maliki, a Shiite who took office two weeks ago, has made security and reconciliation among Sunnis and Shiites a priority of his government.

He has stressed, however that the detainee release plan excludes loyalists of ousted leader Saddam Hussein and his Sunni-dominated Baath Party, as well as "terrorists whose hands are stained with the blood of the Iraqi people."

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 on Wednesday 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. One man used crutches for support.

"I was arrested from my home on Dec. 19, 2004, so I was accused of kidnapping people working for Iraqna mobile company," said one released prisoner, Mohammed Jassim.

Al-Maliki said on Tuesday that 2,500 would be released, but changed that number to 2,000 on Wednesday.

Iraqi officials have said there is an agreement to release up to 14,000 detainees once their cases have been reviewed. A UN report last month said there were 28,700 detainees in Iraq.

Omar al-Jubori, a member of the Iraq Islamic Party, the largest Sunni Arab group in the governing coalition, said the agreement came after negotiations with US Embassy and military officials, as well as street protests.

The releases will "give happiness and hope to every detainee and every oppressed person in this country," al-Jubori said.