US releases prisoners from Abu Ghraib

ABU GHRAIB, Iraq – The US military released hundreds of prisoners yesterday from the Abu Ghraib prison, the detention facility at the centre of the scandal over US abuse of Iraqi detainees.

Relatives gathered outside the grounds of the grim, high-walled facility on the western outskirts of Baghdad, and followed as five buses pulled out of the prison gates. The prisoners were travelling to the cities of Kirkuk, Tikrit and Baqouba, while another group was scheduled to be flown to the northern city of Mosul.”It feels like getting out of a hell of fire into heaven,” said Ali Majid, 34, a former pilot detained for two months after being picked up in a military sweep.The release – the fifth major one since the scandal broke – came one day after the US military pledged that as many as 1 400 detainees will either be released or transferred to Iraqi authorities by the June 30 hand over of power.The Americans will continue to hold between 4 000 and 5 000 prisoners deemed a threat to the coalition.Prisoners are periodically freed from Abu Ghraib, which was also notorious for being a torture site during Saddam Hussein’s regime.The US military has said it will hand over the facility to Iraqi officials in August.One American accused of sexually humiliating prisoners was sentenced to a year in prison for taking a photo of detainees stacked naked in a human pyramid.Three US soldiers accused in the scandal are set to appear before a military judge June 21 in Baghdad.US President George W. Bush suggested that he facility be torn down, a suggestion dismissed by interim Iraqi President Ghazi al-Yawer in an interview Sunday.”If we consider it’s a symbol of Saddam’s atrocities, Saddam used to torture people in each and every basement in Iraq, so that means we have to demolish all government entities.That’s unwise,” al-Yawer told ABC’s This Week.- Nampa-APThe prisoners were travelling to the cities of Kirkuk, Tikrit and Baqouba, while another group was scheduled to be flown to the northern city of Mosul.”It feels like getting out of a hell of fire into heaven,” said Ali Majid, 34, a former pilot detained for two months after being picked up in a military sweep.The release – the fifth major one since the scandal broke – came one day after the US military pledged that as many as 1 400 detainees will either be released or transferred to Iraqi authorities by the June 30 hand over of power.The Americans will continue to hold between 4 000 and 5 000 prisoners deemed a threat to the coalition.Prisoners are periodically freed from Abu Ghraib, which was also notorious for being a torture site during Saddam Hussein’s regime.The US military has said it will hand over the facility to Iraqi officials in August.One American accused of sexually humiliating prisoners was sentenced to a year in prison for taking a photo of detainees stacked naked in a human pyramid.Three US soldiers accused in the scandal are set to appear before a military judge June 21 in Baghdad.US President George W. Bush suggested that he facility be torn down, a suggestion dismissed by interim Iraqi President Ghazi al-Yawer in an interview Sunday.”If we consider it’s a symbol of Saddam’s atrocities, Saddam used to torture people in each and every basement in Iraq, so that means we have to demolish all government entities.That’s unwise,” al-Yawer told ABC’s This Week.- Nampa-AP