- Title: IRAQ: NEARLY SIX HUNDRED PRISONERS HAVE BEEN RELEASED FROM THE ABU GHRAIB PRISON
- Date: 15th June 2004
- Summary: (U2) ABU GHRAIB PRISON, IRAQ (JUNE 14, 2004)(REUTERS) 1. SLV UNITED STATES SOLDIERS GUARDING ENTRANCE TO PRISON; U.S SOLDIERS GUARDING AND CROWDS WAITING FOR PRSIONERS TO BE RELEASED 0.07 2. MV UNITED STATES SOLDIER ON ARMOURED PERSONEL CARRIER; U.S. VEHICLES DRIVING OUT OF PRISON FOLLOWED BY BUS / FORMER PRISONER WAVING AND SHOUTING FROM BUS WINDOW (6 SHOTS) 0.49 (U4) ABU GHRAIB PRISON, IRAQ (JUNE 14, 2004) (REUTERS) 3. SLV BUSES CARRYING FORMER PRISONERS ARRIVING AT POINT NEAR ABU GHRAID PRISON WHERE THEY WILL BE MET BY FAMILY MEMBERS; FORMER PRISONERS LOOKING OUTSIDE OF BUS WINDOWS/ WAVING VICTORY SIGNS 1.15 4. (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) FORMER PRISONER SAYING: "I have been in jail for eight months. And today I was released. They tortured me in ways which cannot be spoken about. But thank God we are released. We are happy." 1.30 5. SV FORMER PRISONERS BEING GREETED BY LOCAL LEADERS; FAMILY MEMBERS GREETING PRISONERS; FORMER PRISONERS RUNNING/ CARRYING BELONGINGS AND WALKING TOWARDS FAMILY MEMBERS 2.02 6. FORMER PRISONER CRYING AND SAYING 'ABUSERS. SINNERS'; FAMILY MEMBERS WAITING BEHIND BARBED WIRE; WOMAN WAVING AT FORMER PRISONERS IN BUSES 2.23 7. MORE OF RELATIVES AND PRISONERS GREETING EACH OTHER 2.33 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
- Embargoed: 30th June 2004 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: ABU GHRAIB PRISON, IRAQ
- Country: Iraq
- Reuters ID: LVA9K7IFFGA08HWTQ8WAFFZQ1P4U
- Story Text: Nearly 600 prisoners have been released from the
norotrious Abu Ghraib prison.
Freed prisoners met with their relatives and
friends on Monday (June 14, 2004) after the U.S. military moved
more prisoners from Abu Ghraib as part of a declared
programme to reduce numbers there to around 2,000 by the
June 30 handover.
Prisoners flashed the 'V' victory sign as three buses
packed with Iraqis left the former prisoners at a point
near Abu Ghraib on the outskirts of capital. U.S. forces
patrolled the area, as prisoners, some carrying belongings,
walked across looking for their loved ones.
"They tortured me in ways which cannot be spoken about.
But thank God we are released. We are happy" said Ahmed
Karim Yassin, a former prisoner who was jailed for eight
months.
The former detainees wept as they were greeted by family
and friends.
"Abusers. Sinners." said another prisoner referring to
American soldiers at Abu Ghraib.
The military had said 585 prisoners would be freed on
Monday.
The International Committee of the Red Cross, which
described abuses at Abu Ghraib in a report leaked in May,
said last week the number of detainees there had fallen to
3,291 this month from 6,527 in March. The ICRC said it did
not know how many had been freed and how many transferred
elsewhere.
Interim Iraqi President Ghazi Yawar on Sunday (June 13)
said he had no plans to destroy the Abu Ghraib prison
despite an offer by U.S. President George W. Bush to tear
down the jail where U.S. troops abused inmates.
He said on ABC television that the prison, notorious as
a place of torture and killing under Saddam Hussein, had
cost more than 100 million United States dollars and such
money should not be wasted. Photographs and videotapes of American
soldiers sexually and physically abusing and humiliating Iraqis at
the prison have seriously undermined U.S. efforts in Iraq.
The Pentagon said last week it would widen a probe into
the abuse of Iraqi prisoners to include actions of the top
U.S. commander in Iraq.
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