- Title: IRAQ: SENIOR AIDE OF REBEL CLERIC AL-SADR IS RELEASED BY US FORCES
- Date: 7th October 2004
- Summary: (W5) BAYAA, BAGHDAD, IRAQ (OCTOBER 7, 2004) (REUTERS) 1. WIDE OF EXTERIOR OF HOUSE OF SHEIKH MOAYAD AL-KHAZRAJI IN SADR CITY 0.05 2. VARIOUS OF SHEIKH KHAZRAJI TALKING ON MOBILE TELEPHONE 0.20 3. VARIOUS OF MAN KISSING SHEIKH KHAZRAJI WHO IS SEATED BETWEEN HIS TWO CHILDREN 0.33 4. SCU (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic), SHEIKH AL-KHAZRAJI, SAYING: "This has nothing to do with any agreement or a deal. What you hear in the news is not true. It is up to the U.S. authorities to release any detainee. They are not committed to any agreement. I served a year in prison and I was set free and I do not know what they (U.S.) call it." 1.03 5. CLOSE OF HANDS 1.08 6. MV SHEIKH KHAZRAJI SEATED BETWEEN HIS TWO CHILDREN 1.12 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
- Embargoed: 22nd October 2004 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: BAGHDAD, IRAQ
- Country: Iraq
- Reuters ID: LVA95DN5WF65AC0AZPHMQBBAQCKN
- Story Text: U.S. forces release a senior aide to rebel Shi'ite
cleric Moqtada al-Sadr.
The U.S. military freed a top aide to rebel Iraqi cleric
Moqtada al-Sadr on Thursday (October 7, 2004) in a gesture
that could help the interim government's efforts to calm
rebel-held strongholds before elections due in January
2005.
Moayad al-Khazraji was detained nearly a year ago along
with other Shi'ite clerics close to Sadr.
A U.S. official confirmed Khazraji was among 230 Iraqis
being freed from Abu Ghraib prison near Baghdad this week.
Sadr, according to his aides, has demanded the release
of his senior followers as a condition of a deal that would
allow Iraqi security forces to take control of Sadr City, a
volatile township of 2 million in northeast Baghdad.
Khazraji, ruled out any link between his release and
the ongoing negotiation to try to draw up a truce between
U.S. forces and Sadr's militia fighters.
"This has nothing to do with any agreement or a deal.
What you hear in the news is not true. It is up to the U.S.
authorities to release any detainee. They are not committed
to any agreement. I served a year in prison and I was set
free and I do not know what they (U.S.) call it," said
Khazraji.
Iraqi Interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi insists that
Sadr's Mehdi Army militia give up its weapons and get off
the streets. Both sides said on Wednesday (October 6) they
had reached no agreement.
A U.S. officer in charge of detentions said the latest
batch of prisoner releases from Abu Ghraib would take two
days.
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